Sonic Extreme: Season 3
by B. J. Williams
Summary: Continued from Season 2: Sonic and his team has to get in gear once again as Dr. Eggman escapes from prison with two others. This new team is attempting to defeat Sonic before they can progress into rebuilding the Robotnik Empire once again. Can Team Sonic hold them off? [P3S]
1. The Reunion

The Reunion

Sonic, Sonia, and Manic were going with Uncle Chuck to Starlight City. They were on their way to the hedgehog family reunion. Sonic and Manic along with Charles were wearing suits while Sonia wore a dress.

"Now, Manic." Sonia said. "You're meeting up with your cousins, so you have to keep it in your pants."

"Don't you know, sis?" Manic replied. "We guys don't wear pants."

"You're completely missing the point." She answered. "You're not to be flirting around at the reunion."

"No flirting?" he said. "Got it."

"Have you been catching up on the rules of high society?" Sonia asked him.

"I'm sure it's not that difficult to follow." He replied. "How hard could it be?"

"It can be very difficult for one who isn't ready."

"She has a point, Manic." Uncle Chuck replied. "The rules of the upper class are many."

"I'll have no problems with it, trust me." Manic said, with a smirk on his face.

"We alright then." Charles answered with a sigh. "I sure hope you know what you are getting yourself into."

The four hedgehogs arrived in Starlight City. The city had a nighttime scene against the city skyline. They headed out to the palace; it was white citadel lined with silver. They went up to the door and they saw a Doberman at the door.

"Halt!" the Doberman stated. "Who's there?"

"Sir Charles." Chuck replied.

"Hello sir." He said. "Are the three children with you?"

"All three."

"Right this way." He opened the door to the citadel and there was quite the commotion going on. There were many hedgehogs in the area and the three dispersed amongst the area. Sonic had walked around and found amongst the diplomats was his mother, Queen Aleema. She was wearing her silver dress and her violet cape.

"Mom?" He asked.

"Sonic." The queen said. Sonic ran up to her and hugged her. He forgot how fast he ran almost knocking her over.

"I'm sorry."

"That's alright, my son." She stated hugging him back.

"I'm so glad I get to see you again."

"I'm so happy as well." Aleema replied. "And I know that you are a hero. If your father was here, he would be so proud of you."

"I know." Sonic replied. "Thanks mom. We have so much to catch up on."

"They will be reading his will soon, so get your siblings." She replied.

"I will." He said, Sonic went off into the crowd.

Sonia was with Manic. The green hedgehog was behind his sister while two other hedgehogs were laughing at him.

"What's the matter, you were born under a rock?" one of the hedgehog said.

"Oh wait, he probably was." The other one replied.

"HEY! That's my brother you're talking about." Sonia answered those two.

"And what kind of nobody are you?" the first asked.

"I'm Princess Sonia." She replied.

"And you are claiming this piece of filth, your brother?" the second asked.

"He is a son of Queen Aleema and you should treat him with a little more respect."

"I don't care if he was the king of the planet." The first added. "He still is a street rat who isn't worthy enough to clean my own shoes."

"If you don't such that mouth of yours…"

"What are you going to do? Punch my jaw?" the second asked. "You would lose your lady-like figure."

"I'm actually considering removing your stupid buckteeth from your mouth."

"Sonia, Manic…" Sonic said. "Let's just leave these jerks alone. They are about to read the will." Sonic, Sonia, and Manic left the two be.

Meanwhile at the entrance, the Doberman saw three figures walking to the entrance. He ran up to them.

"Hey, stop and turn around." The Doberman stated. The center one kept going as the other two stopped in their tracks. "I told you to stop and those with an invitation can…" Then, the figure near by him grabbed his throat.

"You want an invitation?" he said. "Here's my invitation." He slammed the dog's head into the wall knocking the guard out. Then, the three kept going.

The crowd of hedgehogs surrounded the stage. Queen Aleema and her three children had taken their seats on the stage. A shrew had stepped up to the podium and to the microphone.

"I would like to thank everyone of you for coming to the reunion. We're all glad to be in peace once again." The shrew stated. "But alas our great king is gone forever, may rest his soul. We are bringing forward Sir Charles Hedgehog, the brother of Queen Aleema, to read of the will to what would happen." She left the stage and Uncle Chuck came to the stage with a scroll and opened it up.

"Here is what my dear friend had wrote in his will which was written after he saw the oracle of Delphius and before he went off to war." Charles replied and cleared his throat. "To my dear Sonic, I have seen you to become both brave and kind. From what I heard, I saw that you will become a great leader even what I can surpass myself. Therefore, I shall grant my kingdom and throne to him. He can claim the throne when he is ready." He paused as he went to the next paragraph.

"To my daughter Sonia, from what I have heard you have become a talented young girl and I have seen that you will become an excellent manager. Therefore, I shall grant my wealth and riches to her." He continued to the next paragraph and Manic wasn't too happy.

"And I haven't forgotten my son Manic. All I have heard from you is that you have vanished, but I have seen that you will be around when my will is read. Despite growing in a not-so-pleasant environment, I have seen you become wise. Therefore, my entire library and my abilities I shall grant to you." He went down and read the last line. "May all three of you find these blessings beneficial to you, your family, your friends, and…" Chuck was interrupted by a rolling can on the stage.

"What in the world…" he stated; then the can exploded into a white smoke. Multiple cans had exploded covering the entire area with a white smokescreen causing confusion and panic.

"What's going on?" Sonic stated. Then, he heard a female scream. "MOM!"

"OOOOHOHOHOHO!" a familiar voice laughed. Then, a big bi-pedal mech showed up smashing the back of the stage.

"EGGMAN!?" Sonic shouted.

"What did you do with mom?" Sonia shouted. Eggman pushed a button pushing some of the smoke to the side and revealed their mom trapped in a cage.

"As you can see, she's fine." He stated.

"LET OUR MOM GO!" Manic said.

"You make a demand to me but you don't ask me how I got out?" Eggman asked.

"Fine… how did you escape, Eggman?" Sonic asked.

"I was simple. I had help from the inside." He stated. "One who knows your family well." Charles looked around nervous once he heard that.

"Oh, hello Charles…" a voice said. "I'm back…" Then out of the white smoke, came a hedgehog whose fur was black as obsidian with blood red stripes on his head quills. His eyes matching the stripes.

"Shadow…" Charles stated.

"It's pleasing to see that you still remember me." Shadow answered Charles as he was looking and heading over to Sonic. "I'm surprised you even remembered me."

"Shadow, I'm over her." Charles said. The black hedgehog looked towards the voice.

"Oh… when did you get a dye job?" Shadow asked.

"Never mind that. Last time, I heard you were trapped in crystal with Rouge." Charles answered.

"In four words, we escaped with Eggman." Shadow replied. While he was talking with Charles, Sonia tried to sneak by and free their mom. Then, a bat surprised her, knocking her back. The white bat had a black cat suit with white go-gos. She had a heart on both toes and on her chest.

"You really don't want to touch those bars, sister." The bat said.

"And you are?" Sonia asked.

"They call me, Rouge." The bat answered.

"Since you remember me, I believe you know why I am here." Shadow answered. He stuck his hand out to him. "Just hand the throne over and I'll be on my way."

"I'm not handing it over, Shadow." Charles rebuked him. "I don't have it anymore."

"If you don't have it anymore, who'd you give it to?" Shadow answered. "This little blue punk?"

"Leave Sonic out of this." Charles rebuked Shadow. "This is a fight between us."

"Very well, then." Shadow stated. He charged at the gold hedgehog. "You're just an obstacle then." He threw Charles away and he slammed into a tree knocking him out. Then, the black hedgehog turned to Sonic as he picked up the will and read it. "So, you are Sonic. And according to this you have the throne. Hand it over to me and leave; I don't want this visit a waste of my time."

"To someone like you? No thanks, you faker." Sonic stated.

"Faker? Ha. You don't even deserve to be my fake." Shadow replied.

"I'll make you eat those words." Sonic said rushing forward at Shadow. And the black hedgehog rushed up and began to fight the blue blur.

"The hedgehog princess and the bat are gonna fight." A hedgehog said.

"Let's record it." Another replied. They brought up a camcorder to get it on film. Then, Rouge flew to them.

"Get that camera off me." Rouge said taking the device from them. Sonia just tackled Rouge and the two started to wrestle each other.

"That is certainly unlady like of them." The first hedgehog said.

"But you can't help that it looks hot." The other answered. Rouge was able to kick Sonia off of her and into the concessions table. The bat walked up to her and had some snacks on the way there. Sonia got a cup of punch before she rushed at Rouge.

"Haven't you gotten in a fight before?" Rouge asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Sonia replied.

"I was wondering why it was so easy to beat you senseless."

"I'm going to give up that easily."

Meanwhile, Manic was facing off against Eggman's machine. Eggman shot lazers out at Manic and he had dodge out of the way. He picked up a pipe on the ground and started beating up on the mech. Eggman pushed a button on his panel and a claw came up. It went towards Manic but the green hedgehog dodged.

"You can't catch me, Lame-o." Manic replied.

"We'll see whose lame-o here." Eggman stated when he finally was able to grab Manic by the leg. The pipe was still in Manic's hand as the bot lifted him up. The green hedgehog threw a pipe at Eggman hitting him in the noggin. He flinched backwards in pain.

"Nya nya." Manic answered. "Did I crack your shell?"

"You are going to regret saying that." The scientist said in frustration as he rubbed his head. "Now where did I put an ice pack?" Eggman looked through his mech and eventually found an ice pack. Placing it on his head, he found out Manic escaped and picked the lock his mom was in. "Crap."

Shadow seeing this happen rushed to Rouge and got with Eggman Manic fed with his mom as Sonia was getting back up. Sonic revved up a spin dash to strike Shadow. Then, the black hedgehog pulled out a green chaos emerald.

"CHAOS…" Shadow said as Sonic released his dash. "CONTROL!" Eggman, Shadow, and Roge teleported away before Sonic could reach them. He continued spinning until he hit the wall.

"Oof." Sonic said falling over.

"Are you okay?" his sister asked running over to help him up.

"I'm fine what about mom and Uncle Chuck?" Sonic answered.

"Mom's okay." Manic stated. "But Uncle Chuck has to be sent to the medic."

"Oh no." Sonic stated in sadness and he slammed it into the wall. His fit broke through the wall. "That's it, no more Mister Nicehog." He stated. "If Shadow wants a fight, he's going to get one."


	2. Grounding on Medereck Isle

Grounding on Medereck Isle

Tails was returning after delivering a package to a United Federation trade post and meet-up with Dr. Von Schlemmer. The doctor was concerned about him leaving when he did. And Tails realized he should have listened to his advice.

The heavy rains were pouring down on the plane Tails was piloting. The winds howled loudly as he was flying through the sky. Then, the lightning and thunder was blazing across the sky. The young fox was in a panic trying to find a landing spot to land his plane.

Then, he noticed a land mass below him. He started to head downward as the hail began to fall on him. He wasn't able to land the plane properly and it crash landed in the wet sand below. He saw the waves crashing on the shore lines.

"I got to find some shelter somewhere and fast." Tails stated to himself as he got out of the Tornado trying to keep his balance against the violent storm winds. The lightning struck the spot nearby him and he was so filled with terror he ran off without care which direction he was going. Then, he encountered a cave. As the heavy rains poured on, he raced into the cave.

He rested inside the cave knowing he was at least safe from the storm. He looked outside unsure of where he was.

"Well, looks like I'm going to be spending the night here." Tails stated. "In a cold, dark cave." He sighed and saw as his eyes adjusted saw some dry kindling for a fire as well as some old timber. "At least, I can make it warmer." He gathered the stuff and grabbed a lighter from his pocket in started a fire. "That's much better." He glanced over and saw two flowers buds.

 _"Those are some pretty flowers."_ Tails thought. _"Maybe I can take them back to Aunt Sally."_ Then, he tugged on the buds but they wouldn't budge.

"Ow." A girl's voice said. Tails let go and jumped back. He saw the plant the buds were attached to move. It stood up and turned around. It revealed a girl about his age with green leaf-like hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a green and white pedal-like skirt with a strawberry red gem in the middle. Tails began to blush.

"Uh, I'm sorry." Tails blurted out not knowing what he was saying.

"It's okay." She answered calmly. "I'm glad you're out of the rain."

"I'm… Tails…" the fox answered. "What's your name?"

"I'm Cosmo." The girl replied. "It's nice to meet you."

"Thanks." Tails responded.

"I've never seen you here before." Cosmo said.

"I just ended up crashing here due to the storm." He said. "I don't even know where I am."

"That's an easy one. You're on Medereck Isle." She answered.

"How do you know?" Tails asked.

"I've lived here my whole life." Cosmo added. "But right now, let's some sleep."

"Okay." Tails answered. Then, the two went to sleep by the fire.

The next morning, Tails woke up and he noticed that breakfast was already made. Cosmo was there waiting for him to wake up.

"Mornin', Tails." Cosmo stated.

"Good morning." He responded. Then, he saw the plate of food. "You made this for me?"

"I did." Cosmo answered.

"Thanks." Tails replied.

"Not a bother." She said. "You're a guest to the island. I apologize for not greeting you properly." Cosmo looked down feeling upset.

"Don't be hard on yourself. You did what you could." Tails said. Then, Cosmo smiled. The two headed out to the plane and looked over the damage. He sighed. "It looks like I'm going to be here for a while. I wish there is a place I can stay."

"Em, I know of a place we could go." She said. "There be a town in the opening in these woods. Want to come?"

"Okay." Tails answered. Thus, Cosmo guided Tails through the forest until they saw a town. It was made within the trees themselves and heavily in line with nature. "Wow, what is this place?"

"This be the town of the Seedrian Clan." She answered. "C'mon now, I'll like to show you around." She didn't realize that she was holding his hand. The inhabitants were looking in their direction as they passed. Then, the two came across an older girl who had dark cyan hair.

"Galaxina." Cosmo said with happiness.

"Cosmo, how's the morning?" Galaxina asked.

"Not too bad." Cosmo answered.

"Who's your friend?" She asked.

"This is Tails." The young seedrian answered.

"It's nice to meet you." Tails said.

"Same as well." Galaxina answered before turning to Cosmo. "Where did you find this handsome lad?"

"We met last time during the fierce terrible storm last night." Cosmo explained.

"Yeah, my plane had crashed last night. I would like some shelter until I can get my plane repaired. Then, I'll be leaving." Tails answered.

"You are welcome to come into our home." The two seedrians agreed. Then, they saw four mederex in black carry a large board. There was a deceased seedrian on it with a blanket covering it with the smell of charred cinders on the body. There was mourning when the four men arrived.

"What's going on?" Tails asked.

"Another victim was lost to the beast." Galaxina answered.

"What beast?"

"It is known as Lyric. It be a monster who terrorizes the land. It sprays fire from his mouth and poisons the water wherever it trods." Cosmo explained. "It has taken the life of several of my kinsfolk and even our mother, Earthia, was killed by the beast. Our father, Lucas, has been looking for a bride to take her place out of grief."

"Hasn't anybody taken on this monster?" Tails asked.

"Even our finest warriors have gone up against him, only to perish either by his flames or his toxins." Galaxina said. "None of us have a chance against him." There was a silence for a minute.

"I'm not a fighter." Tails said. "But I cannot let this beast harm anymore of you; therefore, I will go and fight this monster."

"But, you're new here." Cosmo said in concern. "The monster is very powerful."

"I know." Tails answered. "Maybe there is something that the warriors are overlooking."

"I see there is no stopping you." Galaxina said. "I will have the blacksmith forge you a weapon."

"I've already got one." Tails replied.

"I will get you a mount, then." She continued. Tails, then, turned to Cosmo.

"What is this monster like?"

"Well, it looks like a snake."

"I think on how to do this." Tails replied. "I'll have this." A frantic seedrian came running in.

"Lyric is comin'! Lyric is comin'!" He shouted. "Everyone get inside, so he won't see you." The seedrians headed inside. Tails looked up remaining outside and saw the sun was in the right spot. Cosmo and Galaxina looked on with fear that Tails won't survive.

Then, he saw Lyric coming towards the town. Lyric was a large olive green snake with glowing yellow eyes with red irises in them. Tails didn't run away from him despite him being intimidated by the vile beast.

"What do we have here?" Lyric said. "A new one. Something I haven't seen before."

"I'll be the one who will defeat you." Tails answered. Lyric laughed as he rose high above the fox.

"You are no match against the mighty Lyric. What makes you think that you can possibly defeat me?" Tails saw a mirror that Cosmo had dropped lying on the ground and picked it up.

"What was that?" Tails asked. "I couldn't hear what you said. Come closer, so I can hear you better." Lyric got his head closer to the two-tail.

"I said, what makes you think that you can possibly defeat me?" Lyric repeated.

"This…" Tails said holding up the mirror. The sunlight reflected off of the mirror and glared right into Lyric's eyes. The monster roared in pain retreated after barely seeing the two-tailed fox could fly. Then, Tails flew to pursue the beast as he pulled out his blaster. When Lyric's eyesight returned, he looked back and saw the fox was following him.

Lyric had shot fire out of his mouth in an attempt to lose the fox. Tails was able to dodge the fire blasts and he fired his blaster towards Lyric. He chased the monster out several miles away from the town. Tails couldn't find Lyric after the pursuit.

"I lost him." Tails stated to himself. "But he is now mad and will surely come back." And a moment later, Lyric was coming back. Tails propelled himself into the air and loaded his blaster. Lyric began to rush towards again this time in rage. Tails aimed his gun. "LYRIC!"

As the snake turned his head around, the two-tailed fox pulled the trigger. The shot fired out of the blaster and it right through the head killing him instantly. Tails had landed on the body of Lyric to make sure that he was dead. Even fired a second shot into his skull. He re-entered the town a little worn out.

"It's okay." Tails said. "You don't have to fear anymore. The monster is dead." One by one the seedrians came out of their homes and buildings to see what Tails said was true. Then, all of them cheered with joy. Cosmo ran out and gave him a hug.

"You did it, Tails!" She said, smiling towards him. "You saved our town. You'd be a hero."

That evening, the people in the town had thrown a celebration in the fox's honor. There was a bonfire in the middle of the town and there was music and dancing throughout the whole area. Tails was in a warrior's garb having a toast with the leaders in the town. He had a wreath on his head as he saw the happy faces on the townsfolks' faces. He looked and saw Cosmo on the side of the group, so he walked over to her.

"Hey, Cosmo." He said.

"Hello, Tails." She replied smiling.

"About today…"

"I know. You've been a blessing to us." Cosmo said. "I now know that my mother can now rest peacefully." Then, a dancing tune came on.

"Uh, Cosmo. Would you like this dance?" Tails asked. Then, she blushed.

"But I'm not very good at dancing." She said.

"Don't worry, I can help you." He responded. The two held each other out by the hand as Dúlamán began to play. Then, Cosmo was happier and even began to laugh at times with the fox. Tails had the time of his life at the party.

However, he also remembered that Medereck Island was not his home, his home was back on West Side Island with his friends, Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Bunny. Thus the day after, he worked on the plane. And by the day's end, he finished it. He decided to spend one last day on the island out of fear he would never see them again.

"Are you sure you can't stay a little longer?" Cosmo asked him.

"I wish I could." Tails replied. "But I can't stay here; I have to head back home to Soleanna." Cosmo was sad to hear the news.

"I can't stop you. I'll have to let you go." Cosmo said.

"I know." He went upstairs. "Good night, Cosmo." He said. "I'll be off in the morning." Cosmo stayed by Galaxina in the evening. But suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Who could that be?" Galaxina asked as she walked to the door. There was a medereck at the door wearing a brown hooded-robe.

"Em, what are you doing here friend?" Galaxina asked her.

"I only have ill news to tell you. Your father has become insane beyond return." Her friend said. "He, now, sees the only one that resembles his wife is Cosmo. Thus will do everything in his power to marry her." She was greatly troubled when she heard the news.

"Can't you do anythin' to stop him?" She asked.

"We have tried everything and he still persists." Her friend replied. "He will come in the morning."

"Then, we need to inform Cosmo and get her out of here." Galaxina said heading upstairs. She had informed her younger sister about what has happened. She knew that their needed to be a way out of here. After some thought, Cosmo jumped up.

"I have an idea." She said.

"Tell me what it is." Galaxina stated. After telling her older sister the idea, Galaxina allowed Cosmo to carry it out.

* * *

Tails flew the Tornado off of Medereck Island the following morning. He was rather sad that he never got to see Cosmo again before he left and had later arrived at Soleanna by noon. Sonic was waiting for him at the airstrip. Then, the fox had landed the plane and shut off the engine coming down.

"Hey buddy," Sonic said. "How are things going?" Tails didn't reply seeming a little upset. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine right now." Tails replied holding back sad feelings.

"You aren't acting like your cheery self." Sonic answered.

"I had a wonderful time on my journey." Tails stated.

"I didn't know you liked exploring that much." Sonic said.

"It's not that."

"What else could it be?" Sonic asked. "You've been gone for three days now."

"I know." Tails said.

"Did you remember the parcel from Dr. Von Schlemmer?" He asked.

"Yeah, I did. It's in the trunk." Tails said going back there.

"Did you have some sort of experience while you were gone?"

"I did. But I'll never experience it ever again." Tails said as he opened up the trunk. "AHH!" Tails shouted in total shock as Cosmo came out of the trunk with the parcel.

"Oh, hi Tails." Cosmo said waving her hand.

"What the…? How did you…? Where did…?" Tails asked. "How did you get here Cosmo?"

"Ehem." Sonic said, tapping his foot as a nervous Tails looked back at an annoyed Sonic. "Why is there a girl in your trunk?"


	3. As the Echidna Turns: Pt 1

As the Echidna Turns: Pt 1

"Had I would have known I would be of such trouble, I wouldn't have been so eager to stow away on his plane." Cosmo stated, pleading her case. "Please don't be so harsh on Tails."

"From what I have heard Cosmo," Sally replied. "I think it is best for you to stay here for the time being."

"Oh thank you so much." Cosmo answered to the princess in gratitude. "I'll try to make myself useful to you while I'm here."

"You don't need to do that." She answered. "You're a guest, not a servant." Sally turned you can take any of the guest rooms in the manor. "I apologize for not expecting another to come our way." Cosmo felt sadden from what she heard. "Don't feel sad, please?"

"Alright." She answered. Then, Sally guided the young girl through the house for Cosmo to decide her room.

Meanwhile, Knuckles was lifting weights in the gymnasium when he noticed a television that was placed on the seat nearby him. He went over and turned it on watched it for a minute. He picked it up and ran all the way over to Knothole.

"Sonic, Sonic, Sonic, you're not going to believe this." Knuckles said. Sonic jumped up from laying on the couch.

"What is it, Knuckles?" He asked.

"Look at this." Knuckles replied. He placed the TV set in front of Sonic.

"You got a new television?" Sonic remarked. "You didn't have to barge in over a new TV."

"Nonono, it's not that." Knuckles answered. "It's what's on the television." Knuckles turned it on. When the TV turned on, Eggman was on camera talking towards the camera.

"Greetings. I know that we have had some issues in the past." Eggman explained. "But I have been thinking. Maybe, I was mistaken on the whole conquering the world. My time in prison did have an effect on me and I'm willing to start over again. I'll work for the betterment of man and mobian kind from now on."

"See look at that, Sonic." Knuckles told him excitedly pointing a finger towards the TV. "He's changed. I know he has. I knew Eggman would come around."

"Give it up, Knuckles. You're dreaming if you think Eggman would turn good for no appearant reason." Sonic shook his head in disgust. "It's probably just another trap to lower our defenses, so he can invade and conquer West Side."

"Why are you so suspicious of him, Sonic?" Knuckles asked starting to lose his temper. "He seems like he truly wants to turn over a new leaf."

"The only thing that rotten egg wants to do is turn us over to a jail cell." Sonic snapped tapping his foot impatiently. "He's no more trustworthy than Julian was. Once a Robuttnik, always a Robuttnik."

"Uncle Snively is nothing like Julian. Robotnik made him do all that bad stuff back then." Knuckles insisted. "And if you won't go and give him a chance, then maybe I will." The angry echidna stormed away out the door.

"Poor Knux, he doesn't see that Eggman's just trying to trick him again." Sonic said with a sigh. "I just hope it doesn't blow up in his face."

"He's not the only one, loser." A snarkly high-pitched voice chuckled as a dark chao slowly floated down from where he had been hiding near the ceiling. "You're gonna get a really big bang out of this."

"Hey, who the heck are you?" Sonic asked looking up at the chao in surprise. "And how the heck can a normal chao talk?" It was at that moment, that the screen of the little TV suddenly said 'game over' and it exploded knocking the surprised hedgehog off his feet. "Ow..."

"My name's Bounta-kun." The chao stated laughing as he flew away. "Hope you enjoyed the little present Eggman-sama gave you."

"So that's where that exploding television came from." Sonic said in annoyance wiping the soot off his face. "Now, I know Knuckles is really in trouble. I'd better go and get the others."

The egg pawns of the Metropolis Zone were on their usual patrols when a small indentation in the dirt came burrowing up to the city. The robots turned to scan the approaching underground intruder. Then, returned to their normal routines as the echidna popped out of the ground at the edge of the city. He looked at the guard robots in confusion.

"Strange, it doesn't look like they are paying any attention to me." Knuckles thought as he began to walk down the city streets. "Eggman must have known I'd be the first to welcome him to the side of good."

"Well, well, well. Look what the echidna dragged in." a voice from one of the roof tops called out. "I suppose you've come here on the boss's invitation."

"Who goes there?" Knuckles asked raising his fist and looking around defensively. "Show yourself or taste my fury."

"Oh come one, now. You really wouldn't hit a lady, now would you?" the form of a shapely bat mobian dropped down a few feet away from him. She walked over to where he stood swinging her hips in front of the echidna's wide eyes. "Besides, I was hoping to welcome you onto the team."

"I… I… I… duh." Knuckles stated, blushing. His jaw dropping wide open as he stared at the bat's cleavage. "Purtty girl."

"My, my, my. You have such an eloquent way with words." Rouge told him putting her finger under his jaw and closing it. "It'll be nice to have a big strong echidna like you around her instead of the boring robots and mindless morons that I have to put up with."

"Uh… why don't we go and talk to E-eggman now?" Knuckles asked trying desperately to regain his composure. "It's been a long time since I've gotten to just sit down and talk to him." Rouge nodded and started to walk towards the central tower. Knuckles's eyes following her every move. But as they walked along, Knuckles noticed several of the tall and spiky towers that made up the city and the various missiles and laser guns mounted on torrents.

"Wow, for someone who wants to make peace, Eggman sure has a lot of weapons." Knuckles noted shrugging it off. "I guess he really wants to protect himself from guys like the battle birds and any other invaders."

"We should always be suspicious of outsiders, you pathetic fool." A black hedgehog hissed leaping off one of the towers and landing right next to the surprised echidna. "I don't trust you at all. And if I had my way, I'd twist your head around so far it would pop off."

"You'll have to forgive my very impulsive and emo partner." Rouge told him rolling her eyes. "He's very hostile to newcomers. Well, actually, he's very hostile towards everybody."

"Shut your mouth, you flying rodent." Shadow hissed. "Now, the master is waiting for you in the scrap brain, this robotic city's very nerve center." Shadow motioned for him to follow and began to take big steps. "Please, walk this way." Knuckles simply shrugged and began to copy Shadow's movements as he walked. Rouge stifled a giggle as she flapped after the angry hedgehog and goofy echidna.

The three mobians made their way to an elevator that toke them straight to the top of the central tower arriving on the top floor. They stepped off into a very luxurious apartment.

"Wow, nice place. You guys have here." Knuckles complimented them looking around. "Say can I stop walking this way? My arms are starting to get tired."

"And why does everyone have to be a comedian?" Shadow grumbled looking at the floor. "Master, we brought the echidna as you wished."

"Knuckles, you're back." Eggman said as he came out in a pink bathrobe and white bunny slippers. "It's so good to see you again, my boy."

"Doctor, I can't believe you've finally come around to the good side." Knuckles replied hopefully. "I had always hoped that this day would come."

"Yes, indeed, my lad. This is going to be quite a momentous occasion." He said pulling out a camera and taking a selfie of the two of them. "I'm sure you will be quite the addition to our little team." He turned to the bat. "Rouge, why don't you show our newest teammate around and then take him to the robotisizer - I mean, the relaxation room. Sorry, force of habit."

"I'd be happy to show our newest teammate around." Rouge replied. "And a rather handsome one to boot. Come on, big boy, let's go downstairs and I'll show you my jewels." After the two of them had left, Shadow looked over at Dr. Robotnik angerly.

"You know, we can't keep him from finding out the truth forever." The black hedgehog snarled. "You were a fool for bringing him here, Ivo."

"Patience, Shadow. He's only a pawn to get to my greater goal." The doctor sat down and started working on a plan at his computer console. "By the time we get through, that unwitting fool will hand the hedgehog to me on a silver platter."

"This is going to be more fun than burning down an orphanage with all the kids inside." Shadow stated as Eggman's laughter echoed through Metropolis Zone.

"Hey, what was that noise?" Knuckles asked looking back.

"Oh, the doctor probably just left the TV on again." Rouge replied. "Pay it no mind."

"So, you're telling me Knuckles just up and left on a stupid TV's word that the doctor had reformed?" Amy asked not believe what she just heard. "Not even Knuckles is that dim-witted."

"Um, Amy-girl. This is Knuckles, y'all are talkin' about her." Bunny pointed out. "You know the same echidna who kept openin' and closin' the refrigerator door, so he could catch the little man who turned the on and off."

"And this is also the same Knuckles who believes the ads on TV that say 'the breakfast cereal is new and improved', then thinks somethings wrong with his taste buds when it doesn't taste any different." Tails remarked. "Are you sure it's really that much of a stretch that he'd run off and try to make peace with Eggman?"

"Tails is right." Amy responded. "Knuckles can be a bit of a chowder head, but he is by no means stupid. We've got to go after him to Metropolis Zone and make sure he's all right."

The four of them were soaring through the clouds in the Sky Patrol, flying in the direction of Eggman's "super-secret" headquarters. Sonic personally thought it would be a little harder to find Eggman's base if he hadn't set up shop in Uncle Julian's old Robotropolis and also set up a giant flashing neon sign that said 'Robotnik's Place'; but this was Eggman they were talking about.

"Knuckles is our bud and we can't just leave him to Eggman's mercy." Sonic told the others looking out the window from the Sky Patrol's bridge. "And at least this wasn't as bad as the time he stuck his tongue on the red and white striped flag pole at the center of Soleanna in the middle of winter, because he thought it was a candy cane."

"Yeah… we had to use a crowbar to pry him off." Tails added. Looking down at his control monitor, he noticed the Metropolis Zone signal lighting up. "Looks like we're here, everybody. Strap in because it's gonna be a rough landing with all those gun turrets and buzz bombers down there."

"Doctor, it looks like your plan is going just as you predicted." Shadow snarled looking at the incoming aircraft on his monitor screen. "The fake hedgehog and his pathetic friend are coming in for a landing at docking bay 94."

"Excellent, Shadow." Eggman replied tapping his fingers together. "Call Knuckles down here, so he may play his part in our little trap." He chortled to himself. "Just think Knuckles is going to be responsible for his own best friends' destruction."

"NO! I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO MUST BE ALLOWED TO DESTROY SONIC!" The emo hedgehog snapped slamming his fist onto the console. Accidently bringing up an advertisement for purses on the Mobius Home Shopping Network.

"This is very lovely piece, especially when going to the park and/or on a date. And if you act now, we will send a second one for free." The announcer stated.

"Oh Shadow, that one's in your color." Eggman teased pointing to a black one with a skull on the button. "It'll go just lovely with your black lipstick and goth mascara."

"Sometimes, I just don't know why I let you keep breathing." Shadow said through clenched teeth. "I'll get that meddlesome marsupial down here." He grabbed the intercom mic off the wall. "Knucklehead, get your sorry red bottom down here this instant! The master wishes to have a word with you!" Several minutes passed before the loud tromping of Knuckles' metal sneakers could be heard running down the hallway. Suddenly the door slid open and an out-of-breath echidna stumbled into the room.

"Sorry I took so long, doctor. But I was kind of busy when you called me." Knuckles told Eggman, reaching over and pulling Rouge's empty gloves off his shoulders. "You wouldn't believe how long it takes to run up and down the fire escape steps in this place."

"Well, why didn't you just use the turbolift?" Eggman asked shaking his head.

"And what exactly were you and that batty little jewel thief doing that required her to take off her clothes?" The jealous hedgehog noted looking down at the gloves Knuckles had just thrown to the floor.

"What… She was just showing me her jewel collection." The echidna shook his head admiringly. "Boy, that girl has a pair of mighty fine emeralds."

"WHY… YOU… I'LL… URRGGGHHH!" Shadow roared, storming off. "I don't know why the world's ultimate lifeform puts up with these pathetic sacks-of-carbon."

"Pay no attention to him, my boy." Eggman told Knuckles with a smile, patting him on the shoulder. "He's just jealous of your power. Say, did you know your friends are on their way here?"

"Really? That must mean Sonic and the others have realized that I was right about you." Knuckles replied excitedly, almost ready to jump out of his fur.

"If you look at the monitor you'll see their craft preparing to land." Eggman told him.

"Really? All I see is an ad for hair berets." Knuckles replied scratching his head. "Oh, that one has bows on it."

"Not that monitor." The doctor stated, changing the channel. "I meant the radar screen over here."

"Gee… it is them." Knuckles exclaimed ready to run for the door. "Do you want me to go out and greet them?"

"Why… yes." Eggman replied with a huge grin spreading across his face. "In fact, I would really appreciate it if you'd bring Sonic up to meet me in the dining hall on Floor C."

"Wow, are you going to throw Sonic a feast? That's great." Knuckles answered heading out the door. "I'm sure we're all going to be great friends now." The echidna left him.

"Hehe, I'm going to throw a feast all right." Eggman chuckled pulling out a deck of robot cards. "And hedgehog is going to be the main course." Looking down at the spread deck of cards in his hand, the doctor shook his head. "Ah, so many badniks to choose from, so little time." His eyes suddenly went wide with an idea. "A-ha! I got it." Sticking the deck into a slot on the computer console, he press a button and a large silver handle with a red knob appeared. Pulling the lever, three slots on the console begin to spin around like a gambling machine. All three then came up in the likeness of one of Eggman's badniks and the mad scientist smiled. "AHH, caterkiller it is." He grinned looking at the large caterpillar of death. "This one will turn Sonic into the lunch plate special."

"Well, doctor. I see you've been reduced to selecting your badniks in the most childish way imaginable." Shadow commented walking back into the room. "And I suppose those cards are used for your gaming group with Breezy and Mammoth Mogul on Friday nights right after you guys play Mazes and Monsters."

"That's none of your business, you spiky little shadowy prick." Eggman rebuked grabbing the cards out of the machine and quickly sticking them into his work-belt pouch right next to his d20 bag. "Now, why don't you make yourself useful and go down to help the badniks kill that blue nusaiance?"

After the doctor had left, Shadow looked around to make sure nobody else was watching. Then, he reached out and pulled the lever down himself. The three spinner rolled around to say 'jackpot'; a huge burst of coins came out of the CD-slot on the computer.

"Wow, this thing really does payout." Shadow exclaimed, shoving the coins into a hidden belt pouch. "Looks like my lunch at Sub Place is paid for the next three months."

As the Sky Patrol landed, a red echidna came running up to where the four mobians were getting off the craft.

"Sonic, there you are. I was afraid you weren't going to change your mind." Knuckles exclaimed, running up to greet his friend. "Eggman is a totally different person now, just you wait and see."

"I trust that Egghead just about as far as I can throw him." Sonic grumbled. "And considering you and Bunny are the strong ones, that's not very far."

"Knuckles-sugar, we really need to get out of here." Bunny pleaded with him, pulling on the echidna's arm. "Metropolis Zone isn't really a safe place. Nobody knows that better than Sonic, Tails, and I."

"I can't believe you of all people doesn't trust me." Knuckles exclaimed a hurt look on his face. "Rouge was right about you just being jealous." Bunny Rabbot took a step back stunned. Her face looked like she had just received a punch in the gut from Knuckles.

"Uh… I…" The Southern Belle stuttered trying to hold back tears.

"Now, wait just a darn minute, minute knucklehead." Amy growled angerly, ready to knock the echidna into the air for hurting her best friend's feelings. "You have no right to talk to Bunny that way."

"Would you guys all just calm down?" Tails exclaimed jumping in between the three mobians before a fight broke out. "Knuckles, if you want us to trust Eggman, you're going to need to show us some proof that he is really sincere."

"That's just what I wanted to do." Knuckles snapped exasperated. "If you'd just follow me, I can show you proof that he's changed."

"Okay, Knuckles. We'll go with you." Sonic looked back at the downcast rabbit. "Bunny, you stay here and guard the Sky Patrol. Make sure that this isn't one of Eggman's funny tricks."

The other four walked off towards the Scrap Brain tower, while Bunny was left leaning against the Sky Patrol almost ready to burst into tears.

"I can't believe, Knuckles didn't trust me." She thought to herself, ears drooping. "I thought we meant more to each other than that."

Suddenly, Bunny's ears perked up as she heard the scraping of a high heel on the pavement near the Sky Patrol. The rabbit barely cartwheeled out of the way as several darts imbedded themselves into the side of the ship.

"Well, well, well. Look what the echidna dragged in." A very femme fatale voice hollered. Looking down at Bunny from the top of the ship. "I guess you must be the jealous ex-girlfriend." Bunny blushed at those words.

"Y'all wanna come down here and repeat those words?" Bunny challenged raising her fisted. "I'll be happy to shove them down y'alls little hussy throat."

"Mymymy, such big words coming out of such a little rabbit." Rouge commented a smirk on her face as she turled another dart between her fingers. "Why are you so angry? Did a bunch of human kids steal your colorful bowl of cereal?"

"That does it." Bunny snarled thumping her foot against the ground angrily. "Get your plastic surgery ridden face down here and fight like a lady!"

"Oh, I'd be happy to." Rouge jumped down towards Bunny aiming the razor tip of her high heels at the rabbit's throat, spinning around and around. Bunny reached up and grabbed her boot with her cybernetic arm and tossed the surprised bat into the ground.

"Ah, what's wrong sugar?" Bunny asked looking down at her opponent and batting her eyelashes. "Can't find a good belfry to hang from? I love to stay and continue this but I don't have time for a flying rodent."

"Did I ever tell you that I'm a vampire bat?" Rouge jumped back to her feet and lunged at Bunny with her razor tipped glove claws. "Because I'm going to make you lose a lot of blood."

Bunny hopped around blocking the razor sharp nails with her metal arm and leg. Rouge moved to kick her again but was met by Bunny's own metal foot. The two kicked up against each other at the same moment and both flipped away and landed.

"Hmm, you're a better fighter than you look." Rouge said. "I guess there's a good reason that the echidna likes you so much." Bunny's face turned a brighter shade of red.

"Well, y'all fight way better than y'all look." Bunny cocked an eyebrow. "Then again, y'all look like a bollweevil that's been run over by a tractor three times." Rouge hissed and dove into the ground burrowing straight towards Bunny.

Bunny in response dove into the soil after her. The two burrowing mobians circled each other beneath the ground one trying to catch up with the other. Suddenly, Rouge burst from the ground and leapt towards the spot she thought Bunny had stopped but the rabbit exploded out of the dirt right behind rouge. Grabbing both of the jewel thief's legs and trying to pull her down.

"Yeehaw! It's like ridin' a bronco at a rodeo." Bunny called out as Rouge spread her wings and took to the air. "I'm bringin' you down to earth, girl."

"Let me go, you damn country hick." Rouge barked back at her trying to shake her loose as she flew through the skies of Metropolis. "If you don't let go, we're both gonna get hurt."

"That's exactly, what I'm tryin' to do, suga." Bunny exclaimed trying to steer Rouge's flight by swinging her legs. Finally she was able to throw the jewel thief's flight off course and send them hurtling towards one of the gun turret towers.

"AHH!" Rogue cried out in a panic as both of them slammed into the tower wall. SPLAT!

"Ouch…" Both women said simultaneously as they slid down the side of the tower like two bugs that hit a windshield.

"Ooh mommy, I want all the shiny jewels." Rouge moaned as rhinestones and emeralds spun around her head. The batgirl quickly passed out.

"Well, I did my part, suga." Bunny groaned as she slipped into unconsciousness. "Sonic, I hope y'all are able to save Knuckles from himself."


	4. As the Echidna Turns: Pt 2

As the Echidna Turns: Pt 2

"You'll see, Sonic. Eggman has totally changed since his days as Snively." Knuckles stated to his friends as they were approaching the dining hall.

"I don't know, Sonic… Maybe he's is right." Amy commented starting to think about what the echidna was telling them. "Maybe Eggman has changed. Maybe he was just doing what Robotnik wanted him to do out of fear."

"Get real, Amy. You weren't there in the old days." Sonic grumbled as boarded the scrap brain's elevator. "Snively enjoyed hurting the freedom fighters just as much as that screwed up uncle Julian of his did."

"I was there, Sonic. And even I think that Eggman might be sincere." Tails argued. "If he really has turned good, he could be a very valuable technical asset to Rotor and I. I'd love to compare notes with him on several of my newest inventions."

"I hope we don't regret that decision, Tails." Sonic sighed as the elevator came to a stop. "If Eggman is tricking us again, he'll have us right where he wants us." The four mobians stepped off of the elevator and onto a blue and white checkered floor.

Suddenly, the elevator clamped shut behind them and plummeted to the ground floor. The checkered floor suddenly lit up with a blue and white surge of electricity.

"I knew this was a trap." Sonic yelled angrily. "Eggman pulled a fast one on us."

"I can't move my feet." Tails stated, unable to take a step. They're stuck to the floor.

"I can't move my feet, either." Amy wailed. "Sonic, do something!"

"I can… I… I can barely move." Sonic yelled only able to take steps at normal speed. "Knucklehead, he tricked you again."

"No, wait. This can't be right." Knuckles protested, doubt starting to creep into his voice. "Uncle Snively would never pull a trick like this."

"Knuckles, you are such a wonderful boy." A voice came out as a monitor floated down from the ceiling with Eggman's face on it. "But you are also so wonderfully… stupid."

"Uncle Snively, you're playing a joke right?" Knuckles said, only able to run to the monitor at normal speed due to his powerful muscle. "Please, tell me this is all a joke."

"You have outlive your usefulness, echidna." Eggman replied with a laugh. "Now, it's time to dispose of you with all of the other outdated garbage." Suddenly, a trap door opened beneath the echidna's feet and he dropped down a hole.

"WHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" A plaintive voice wailed as the door snapped shut.

"Now then, while that naïve little echidna gets a permanent vacation in my great robot incinerator, it's high-time ideal with the three of you." Eggman explained stoked his mustache. "Let's play a little game, shall we? I like to call it… Sonic Labyrinth…"

"So, what are the rules of this Sonic Labyrinth, Egghead?" Sonic asked.

"It's quite simple really. My gravitonic reverberator are holding you and your friends in place." Eggman explained. "Seeing how you are the only member of your little group that is strong enough to move under the greater pressure, all you have to do is get across the room to the key on the other side."

"Huh, sounds easy enough." Sonic answered. They heard a loud clanking sound as three caterkillers fell through holes in the ceiling and landed on the floor.

"Oh, did I forget to mention the caterkillers in the maze?" Eggman grinned. "How thoughtless of me?"

"Big deal, Egghead." Tails rebuked him. "As long as they're touching the floor, they can't move any faster than we can." The caterkillers began to bounce around only becoming slow when they touched the grid floor. "You got to be kidding me." He rolled his eyes.

"Can you complete this in five minutes, Sonic?" Eggman chuckled. "Otherwise, you'll be joining your dead echidna friend in the fires below."

"There are some days it doesn't pay a way-past-cool hero." Sonic said with a sigh as he started to walk toward the key…

Meanwhile far below, an echidna had stretched out his arms and legs, stopping his fall halfway down the chute by holding on to the metallic sides.

"I can't believe Eggman betrayed me." Knuckles cried sadly. "I really thought he wanted to change. Suddenly, a determined look came across his face. "But I can't let my friends down." The determined echidna growled. "I need to get myself out of here and get back to save them." He punched his way through the wall with several powerful blows and pulled back the scraps of metal forcing his way out of the chute through the hole he made.

"Well, that certainly takes care of that problem." He exclaimed stepping out into an area full of mist. "But where exactly am I now?" The mists parted and Knuckles found himself standing on a spike sticking out of the scrap brain tower. The ground was nearly invisible far below him and the echidna began to panic. "YIPE! This is way too high up." He yelled slipping and falling off his feet and clinging to the spire. "I went from almost being a fried echidna into an echidna flatbread."

Crawling his way back to the open hole, Knuckles looked up just to see he was in even worse trouble. The building repaired itself mechanically by sliding a metal panel over the area Knuckles had just punched his way out of.

"Oh no, there goes my way back in." he said. "The scrap brain doesn't seem have any other spires and the wall is too smooth and thick for me to use my shovel claw to climb. By the time, I punch my way back in my friends will all be fish food."

"Would you stop your monologue about how hopeless you are and get your red butt in here?" A black hedgehog stuck his head out an open hatchway and held a hand out to the confused echidna.

"Wait, why are you helping me?" Knuckles asked suspiciously as he took Shadow's hand. "You're just as much a bad guy as Eggman is."

"I have no desire to help you pathetic fools or to turn against the doctor." Shadow told him as he pulled Knuckles back inside the tower. "But nobody is allowed to finish the hedgehog off except me. I will bring about Sonic's end on my own terms." Shadow stormed away. "Now, you go and save your friends and we'll pretend this conversation never happened."

"Whatever, you say Mr. Angry Emo Face." Knuckles replied returning to his normal chipper self. "I've got some buddies to rescue."

Meanwhile on the floor above, Sonic was trying to dodge and move his way across the checkered floor without letting the hopping caterkillers hit him.

"Wow, it's like dancing with a bunch of slinkys that move by themselves." Sonic stated, backfliping slowly out of the way of a centipede that barely missed him. "Tails, you got any ideas? Cause I can use one right now."

"Um… wait, those caterkillers normally whenever they aren't touching the floor." Tails noted, his eyes lighting up. "Amy, throw your hammer at one of the badniks."

"I don't see what good it'll do, but okay." Amy commented swinging her hammer back and letting it fly. "Batter up." The hammer spun across the room smashing into the back of one of the caterkillers full force, breaking it to pieces and freeing the flicky inside.

"Hey little buddy," Sonic said looking up to the small animal. "Think you can give me a hand… er wing?" The flicky quickly nodded and began to fly in circles around the second caterkiller's head. The badnik was so confused by the bird's rapid movement that Sonic had enough time to slowly walk over and pick up the hammer.

"HEY! BUG BOY! IT'S HAMMER TIME!" Sonic shouted throwing the mallet. The spinning weapon smashed into the surprised caterkiller's head breaking it into pieces, freeing the bird inside.

"All right, that does it!" Eggman screamed over the monitor slamming his fist down on a button. "I'll increase the gravity 100-fold and neutralize its effects on the last caterkiller. End of the line, Sonic."

"No surprise there, Egghead." Sonic groaned falling to his knees as the pressure forced him and his friends down. Looks like this is the end of the line as the last caterkiller moved to strike Sonic, a loud rumbling could be heard coming from just outside the room.

Without any warning, the floor tiles at the door began to break upward as something moved underneath them. The tiles parted in a trail coming towards Sonic as what looked like a red fin broke through the floor as if it were a shark moving through water.

"GET AWAY FROM MY FRIEND!" Knuckles screamed exploding up through the floor and smashing the caterkiller with his spiked fist. "YOU BETRAYED ME, IVO ROBOTNIK, I TRUSTED YOU AND YOU STABBED ME IN THE BACK! THIS TIME, YOU'LL PAY BIG TIME!"

"KNUCKLES, GET THE KEY!" Sonic stated pointing towards the gold object laying on the floor. "It's out only way out of here." Knuckles leapt for the key grabbing it and sliding the key into the small block right against the wall it was sitting beside.

"Eggman never puts a key very far from the door." Tails said with a smile as the gravity shut off and they all stood up. "He's too arrogant to think anybody else could win."

"Good to see you back to normal, Knuckles." Amy told him with a smile.

"Make sure you don't pull something stupid like that again." Sonic told him with a wink and smile.

"Curses, how did they beat my gravity trap!? This is as bad as the time I teamed up with that scientist with the funny accent who made robots to defeat that hedgehog and his power copying buddy." Eggman snarled. "Well, I'll show him some REAL action with my Doombots." Eggman went to pull the lever on the robot slot machine but a little black chao flew up in front of him.

"OOooo, let me do it, Eggman-sama." Bouta-kun stated grabbing the lever and yanking it down with all his might.

"No, Bouta-kun." Eggman yelled throwing his arms up in a panic. "That machine is very delicate and.." The arm broke off with a loud snap and the three spinning slots all turned to skulls. A large red 'Game Over' appeared on the screen.

"Noni?" Bouta-kun asked. Suddenly, the tower began to rumble violently.

"What's going on?" Tails asked in a panic.

"Hurry this way." Knuckles declared waving out through the room's door.

The four mobians jumped down the elevator shaft. Sonic hanging on to Knuckles as he glided to the bottom, while Amy clung to Tails. They ran out of the scrap brain tower just as smoke and fire began to shoot out of the bottom.

"Is that thing shooting off into the sky?" Sonic asked incredulous.

"We have lift off." Tails commented as the tower soared into the air. They continued to watch the tower ascended to the edge of the stratosphere before it exploded into a bright flash of colors and lights.

"And we get a fireworks show, how pretty." Amy said.

"Do you think Eggman's gone for good?" Knuckles asked hopefully.

"Nope, remember he was talking to us on a monitor? My guess is he was in a control room outside of the tower." Sonic stated. "Well, we better get out of here before anyone else notices us." The four began to run back towards the Sky Patrol when Amy suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Wait, does anybody know what happened to Bunny?" She asked.

"Hey there, Suga-hog." A voice called as the rabbit mobian walked towards them. The four friends eyes when wide as they saw Bunny wearing a black tight bodysuit with white gloves and a giant heartpiece showing off her bustline. "What do y'all think of my new outfit?"

"B… Bunny?" Knuckles asked. His jaw nearly hitting the floor. "Where the heck did you get that?"

"Oh, the person I borrowed it from didn't really need it anymore." She said.

On the other side of the Metropolis zone, an angry tied up bat wearing a rain barrel was struggling against her bonds angrily vowing vengeance on a certain freedom fighter the next time they meet. It was then, that a black hedgehog came around the corner and stared at the captive figure in surprise.

"What happened to you?" He asked.

"Mmph, mmph, mmph, mmph." She tried to scream through her gag.

"You know, you can stay that way for a while." Shadow replied walking away with a wave of his hand. "That means a little less time I have to listen to your mouth."

"Well Knuckles, I my hope you learned not to trust someone who has proven themselves untrustworthy." Sonic snapped, crossing his arms and tapping his foot on the ship's deck.

"I'm sorry guys." Knuckles apologized. "It's just Snively brought me up after I lost my own family. I really didn't want to believe he was evil. I really am all alone now."

"Well, that's nonsense, Knux. You're your family now." Amy exclaimed putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll always be here for you no matter what."

"We never leave you hanging, Knuckles." Tails exclaimed looking back from the ship's controls. "You're like family to all of us."

"They're right, sugar." Bunny stepped forward putting a hand on his other shoulder before her eyes when wide and she put a hand on her hip. "Boy, that bat hussy's skimpy undies sure do chafe."

"Sonic, don't you want to share in this tender moment?" Amy asked.

"Hmph," Sonic snorted looking over his shoulder. "Once a knucklehead, always a knucklehead." The two glared at each other for a moment before both of them burst into laughter. The rest of the team also started laughing as the Sky Patrol flew on towards the sunset.


	5. Amy and the Beast

Amy and the Beast

Princess Sally is frantic as she was setting up the decorations in the villa for the event. Knuckles came down to see what was happening.

"Princess, what's going on?" Knuckles asked.

"Knuckles, good timing." Sally said as she rushed towards him and handed him some decorations. "Can you hang these over there?"

"What's all this for?"

"Tomorrow is the Day of Roses." Sally explained. "We have to get everything ready for the ball for that night."

"What's the Day of Roses?" Knuckles asked.

"It was when West Side Island was united when a bishop brought an end to the war. He united the prince and princess on both sides in matrimony for the two loved each other." She explained. "The sad part was that bishop was murdered shortly afterwards because of what he did by war mongrels."

"Did they ever catch these killers?" Knuckles asked.

"They did." Sally answered. "The Day of Roses was commemorated for the marriage and memorial where love and peace had triumphed over hate and war." Then, Amy Rose came into the scene.

"Guys, have any of you seen Sonic?" Amy asked.

"No, not today." Sally replied.

"Me neither." Knuckles answered.

"I'm getting worried because he hasn't shown up at all." Amy said.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that he'll come up." Sally replied placing her hand on Amy's shoulder. Then, Antoine came into the room.

"Madam Sally," he said. "We have a call."

"What is it, Antoine?" She asked.

"There is a mobian settlement in a mountainous peninsula." He explained. "They need one of Team Sonic to go there and investigate."

"I'll go." Amy replied.

"Are you sure you can handle yourself out there?" Sally asked.

"I'm certain of that. I'll be back in time for the Ball of Roses." She answered as she headed out.

Amy Rose had arrived at the village of Forêtville. The town had houses made with wood and tiles on the roofs and there was a river that flowed through the town as well. Amy walked up and the villagers came to her.

"Who are you?" one of the villagers asked.

"I'm Amy Rose." Amy said. "I'm one of Team Sonic sent by Princess Sally."

"Oh, thank goodness you arrived." Another voice said. A mustached mobian dressed in a beige suit and top hat came forward. "It's a blessing that the princess has answered our call for help."

"So you are the mayor of this town?" She asked.

"I am." He answered.

"So Mr. Mayor, what is the problem here?" Amy asked.

"Several of our citizens have disappeared and when we sent our militia out to find them, they vanished as well." The mayor explained. "And we have gotten reports that there is a monster on the loose."

"So, where is beast?" She asked in concern.

"So far, it has only been seen around the castle in the black forest just to the north of this village." The mayor explained.

"Okay then, I'll head up and teach that monster a lesson." Amy said. "I'll go right now." She answered.

"Good luck, madam." The mayor said as the pink hedgehog left. "Oh, wait a minute." She turned around to face him.

"What is it?" She asked.

"If you are going to lure him out, please use this." He answered. He gave her a red hood.

"Okay, thank." The hedgehog replied. Then, she walked away.

"You think she'll be a princess in the end?" one of the mayor's guards asked.

"No, I highly doubt it." Another replied.

The black forest lead into a mountain pass where the old castle sat on top of one of the foot hills. Amy Rose saw that it was getting late. The sun was setting as she was approaching the castle.

"Maybe, it was a bad idea to have left immediately." She said. "Well, I don't have much else for shelter. Here goes nothing." She opened the door and it creaked open. She lit a torch with her psy-flame and walked into the lair of the beast.

A cool breeze blew through the castle through the open windows. The silence was slightly unsettling to Amy but she didn't detect any ghosts. She continued to walk down the long hallways. The only thing she could hear was her own footsteps and the breeze.

"There has to be something around here." Amy thought to herself. She saw that the place had some cobwebs in the area. As she tried some of the doors, she saw they were locked. Until she came to an unlocked door, she opened it up.

She entered into a library. She saw that the room seemed to have been cleaned recently and there was a fire going in the fireplace.

"This seems extremely odd for an old castle." Amy said. "It's a surprise that someone is in this beast's lair." She unlit the torch and set it down. She looked around the room and didn't see anything out of the ordinary until…

"Wait, what's that?" She said. She saw what appeared to be a brown cloth on a small table. She dashed over and picked it up. "This… this… It's Sonic's ascot. That means he must have been here recently." Then, she heard movement coming from nearby. She had gotten very scared. "The beast is coming this way." She saw a knob attempted to be turned on one of the doors. She decided to use her psychic abilities to hold the door shut. The other doors knob turned but the door didn't move.

Amy heard that the beast was moving away, so she went out and tried to make her escape. She opened the door and looked. She saw a monster moving away from her. Seeing that the monster wouldn't turn around, she tried to sneak away. But ended up dropping her hammer. The beast turned around and spotted her.

"Hey," it said. Amy picked up her hammer and ran away. "Wait." The creature began to pursue her. Amy ran and ran, she came to the main area with the front door. She left through the front door as it was already dark out and there was a full moon. She dashed as fast as she could into the forest seeing the monster still pursue her.

She ran and ran through the forest, getting more and more tired. But noticed she was seeing the same places again and again.

"Oh no," She thought. "I'm… lost…" She paused. "I hope things don't get any worse." Then, she heard howling in the woods. Then, several mobini wolves came out of the shadows glaring down at her. They were bearing their fangs at her. She made sure she did not make direct eye contact with them and she slowly moved backwards facing them but keeping her hammer up. They started barking at her.

One jump towards her. She swung her hammer knocking it away. A second one leapt towards her. She hit is down but it continued to attack. She used her hammer to stop the canine from reaching. Then, the wolves began to attack on all sides. All she could do was curl into a ball and use her hands to protect her neck and head. The wolves clawed at her and bit at her, when they heard a much louder roar.

Amy didn't seen what was going on but she heard the sound of a larger creature fighting with the wolves. She heard the growling and roaring until she heard the wolves ran away. She looked up and found the monster she was running away from. She stood up.

"Amy." The beast said and in reaction the pink hedgehog fainted.

When she woke up, Amy noticed that she was laying on a couch with a blanket over her. She looked and noticed she was back in the old castle's library. She saw that the wounds she got from the wolves were bandaged up. She saw that the blue furry monster was sitting nearby her.

"Hey there." He answered. "You're awake."

"Oh, you saved me." Amy said in surprise. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Amy." It replied.

"How do you know my name?" She asked.

"I known you since I met you. As well as Tails, Knuckles, and Bunny." It answered. Amy was shocked. She took the ascot and put it on him. "S-S-Sonic? Is that really you?"

"I am." He answered. "I wish I was in a better condition." Amy didn't care that she was hugging a werehog.

"Oh Sonic, I was so worried about you." Amy answered.

"I appreciate the hug but do you have to get mushy right now?" Sonic asked.

"Oh sorry," She answered letting go of him. "What happened to you?"

"I don't know." Sonic explained. "I know I went to bed in Knothole, and then I found myself here as this… monster."

"I see." Amy replied attentively.

"But that isn't the only thing though."

"What's that?"

"This..." Then, Sonic stretched his arm out to get some more wood into the fire and pulled his arm back. Amy had her eyes wide.

"Wow."

"I bet if Eggman had this, he would have stretchy butt powers." Sonic joked and Amy chuckled.

"I should tell the village about this."

"A village!? Nearby!?" Sonic asked in shock.

"Yeah, south of here." Amy replied but Sonic sighed.

"If I had known about the village, I would have asked for help." He said. "But I can't leave the castle or the surrounding area."

"How come?"

"I tried leaving and there is a magical barrier trapping me in here." Sonic explained.

"So, you aren't responsible for the villagers' disappearances." Amy said.

"Disappearances?" Sonic answered. "I think I might have something."

"What?" Amy asked.

"I was in the tallest tower and noticed lights in a mountain cave to the east. I believe something fishy is going on here." Sonic explained.

"I'll check it out." She said.

"Amy… just be careful out there." Sonic replied.

"I'll be fine." Amy replied.

As morning came, she headed off to the cave. She arrived at the cave and she noticed that someone was coming towards the exit. Then, the pink hedgehog drove behind a boulder. As she watched, Amy saw Wendy Witchcart leave the cave.

"At last, that should do it." Wendy stated to herself. "Now, to carry out the final part of the plan." She got on her broomstick and flew off into the direction of Forêtville. Amy snuck into the cave after Wendy left. She went in and found a prisoner in a deep part of the cave. She was initially scared of her.

"It's okay." Amy said taking off the hood. "I'm one of Sonic's friends."

"You're with Sonic, are you?" The old mobian crone asked her. She was dressed in a black robe. "You are fortunate that you have come for him."

"I know." Amy answered. "I was worried about him."

"You should." She said. "But you need to ask fast."

"What's going on?"

"Wendy has kidnapped the ones from the village and she has pinned the blame on your friend. She will raise a great fury in them and they will seek blood to be spilled." Amy was horrified to here this.

"We got to do something. Sonic is unable to leave the castle."

"There is a way. I recognize the spell that the witch has cast on him and I can make a potion that is able to reverse the effects. But my release is necessary." The mobian said. Amy busted the door open to her cell. "Thank you." The crone stepped out of the cell. "Now, we need to find the alchemy room."

After a while, in the alchemy room, the potion was completed upon mixing the ingredients and stirring the potion as it was heating up. It was a bright red liquid. The crone corked the bottle and handed it to Amy.

"Be careful, it's a little hot." The crone exclaimed.

"Ow." Amy said jerking back her hand. The crone put the potion in a nearby cloth and handed the contents to her.

"This will be able to cure the condition Sonic is in." the crone said. "But there is something special that you must do."

"What's that?" Amy asked her.

"It is not enough for him to drink it." She explained. "You must place the potion in your mouth and transfer the liquid to his?"

"That'll result in… a kiss?" Amy replied. Just the idea made her blush. "It just feels… I don't know how to react to that."

"But now, you must hurry." The crone said. "The mob will soon head to the castle; they will reach the castle as the sun sets. You must leave now."

"Right." Amy said, putting the potion in a safe place. "Thanks again."

"You're welcome, child." She replied. "Good luck."

Amy was running through the forest seeing the sun was setting in the horizon. She was starting to run out of time.

"Hold on, Sonic. I'll be there." Amy said aloud. "Just hold on for a little longer."

Meanwhile, it seemed that the entire village was rallied against the beast, calling for his head for what he has done to the captives.

"KILL THE BEAST!" Some of them shouted. A couple of them were carrying a battering ram with them. Others were carrying torches and weapons. Wendy Witchcart was leading them to battle.

"Onward, remember those who have lost their lives to the savage monster." Wendy stated firing them up for battle.

During this time, Sonic was trying to find a way to reach Amy sooner. He noticed that the magic barrier has closed much more. So, he is trapped completely into the castle with only a little outside room. He looked out the window and saw the mob is approaching the castle.

"Those must be the villagers." Sonic thought.

"There he is." One of the villagers answered. "Open fire." The villagers opened fire on the werehog. Sonic was able to dodge out of the way of them. He looked out again seeing that the mob had a battering ram as they started to cross the bridge.

Thinking fast, he rushed down the stairs to the doors. He locked the doors and started moving furniture in front of the inside of the door. As he completely covered the door, there was a loud bang beating on the door.

"YOU WON'T KEEP US OUT FOREVER, YOU MONSTER!" One of the villagers shouted. Sonic rushed toward the back of the castle and he looked back he saw Amy approaching.

"AMY, UP HERE!" Sonic said and Amy looked up towards him.

"SONIC!" She said. "I'll be up there as soon as possible." She saw a tree laying against the castle's wall and she started to run up it. But when she reached the wall, the ground supporting the tree collapsed. Sonic leapt out of the window with one arm stretched to hang on the window by. He was able to take Amy's hand with the other stretched arm. In Amy's open hand was the potion.

"I got you, Amy." Sonic said. "I'm not going to let you go." He tried to pull Amy and himself up. He was struggling because of the pain from the arms stretched to their limit.

"You can do it, Sonic." Amy replied. "I have faith in you."

Sonic roared and pulled as much as he could and he was able to get Amy up to his level. She held on to Sonic around his shoulders. He noticed the ledge on the window was beginning to crack as he grabbed on with both arms. He pulled the both of them up.

Amy Rose got inside the window and she saw that the door is almost broken through. She reached out for Sonic's hands. The ledge broke, she slid the potion away to grab Sonic's hand. She pulled him up. The door was now being attacked with axes.

"What do we do?" Amy said.

"Quick to the library." Sonic replied. She grabbed the potion as the two ran to the library. Sonic locked the door behind them. They heard the front door completely break open. They heard loud voices echoing in the hallways.

"I got the medicine." Amy stated as she opened the bottle. "I'll have to give it to you from my mouth."

"Alright." Sonic said. "If this doesn't work, I just want to let you know…" Sonic paused.

"What?" Amy asked.

"I… I…" He replied. They heard the shouts getting closer and closer. "I love you, Amy Rose." She blushed as she heard this.

"I love you too, Sonic." She replied. The two heard banging on the door to the library. Moving quickly, Amy poured the liquid into her mouth and approached Sonic…

The villagers broke through the door and they saw Amy holding on to Sonic the HEDGEHOG. The villagers stopped in confusion.

"What happened to the monster?" one of the villagers asked.

"We kinda already took care of the monster." Sonic said. "Right?"

"Yeah." Amy replied. "You won't have to worry about the beast ever again." Then, the people cheered. Meanwhile, outside Wendy heard the cheering. She smiled and laughed.

"At last, I'm finally rid of that adversary." She said. "Now, my revenge is complete."

"Not quite." Amy said as she stepped outside the wrecked door with her piko piko hammer in her hand.

"What do you mean 'not quite'?" Wendy asked her. Her smile disappeared once Sonic showed up as well.

"NOW, PREPARE TO FACE THE POWER OF LOVE!" Amy shouted as she rushed straight on raising her hammer.

"Oh, son of a…" Wendy answered as the hammer came down.

It was now the Night of Roses. Princess Sally had the ballroom all decorated with flowers and red and white banners. There were many guests at this event all dressed up, even the guys dressed up for the event.

"Attention, all guests." Antione said in the microphone. "It is time for the hosts and hostesses to reveal themselves." Then, he turned to the stairs heading to the upper floors.

"First is our hostess, Princess Sally Acorn escorted by Sir Ray the Flying Squrriel." The two of them came down the stairs. Sally was dressed in a white, sparkling, elegant dress and had her tiara on while Ray was dressed in a black suit. A few of the mobians clapped.

"I'm thinking there are a bunch of shippers in the crowd." Sally said.

"Well, nobody ever saw us together before." Ray replied.

"Next is Sir Knuckles and Lady Bunny Rabbot." Antione continued. Knuckles came down with Bunny. Knuckles was in a grey tuxedo while Bunny had a simple red dress with a bow in her hair. There was greater clapping from the audiences.

"I feel like I can burst out in song sometime soon." Knuckles said.

"I think the holiday is starting to get to ya." Bunny replied.

"Next is Sir Tails Prower and Lady Cosmo of the Seedrian." Tails came down with her. He was dressed in white. Cosmo was wearing a green sailor dress. And a greater applause and some cheering came from the audience.

"Why am I getting the feeling that this is somewhat like a fairy tale?" Tails asked Cosmo.

"I don't have a clue, Tails." Cosmo answered.

"Finally…" Antione pointed out. "Here is Sir Sonic the Hedgehog and Miss Amy Rose." The pair came down the stairs. The crowd roared with applause and cheers. Sonic was dress in black pants and a blue long coat with a white cumber bun and Amy was in a yellow dress with frills on the outside.

Then, the music started to play. Sonic and Amy were in the center of the floor and other couples danced around them. There was a tap on Antione's shoulder and he turned around.

"Have you seen Fwoggy?" the mobian in a suit asked.

"No, I haven't." he responded.

"Fwoggy, where are you?" the cat said as he left the area. Knuckles was singing along with the music on the side because Bunny wasn't in the mood for dancing. As he sang, his tenor voice was very enchanting as he matched the notes perfectly.

"Certain as the sun…" he sang. "Rising in the east, tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme…"

"I love your voice, Knuckles." Bunny said complimenting him. "But can you change the tune?"

"Can I finish this one first?"

"Okay."

"Tale as old as time…" Knuckles continued. "Song as old as rhyme…" He paused. "Amy. And. The… Beast."


	6. The Sword of Acorn: Pt 1

The Sword of Acorn: Pt 1

Sleet and Dingo had become members of Team Hooligan. At the time, Sleet was talking to Nac.

"So, you are sayin' you can be a good addition to the team?" Nac asked.

"Yes, we were originally bounty hunters for Julian Robotnik during his reign." Sleet mentioned. "We have plenty of combat and mission experience."

"Well, if you want to join our posse you are going to have to prove yourselves on what you can do so I know you're tellin' the truth, you hears?" Nac asked.

"I have just the thing to look for. We are going to nab the Sword of Acorn." Sleet explained. Nac's eyes opened wide with intrigue.

"You're talkin' about a treasure that is owned by the West Side Royal family." Nac said in surprise. "This'll be interestin' to see how you do.

"We're currently coming up with a plan, sir. Then, we will head out." The wolf churtled. He looked back and noticed that Bark and Dingo were arguing. "Oh, blast it, you eediot. We don't want to be rejected by a future co-workers."

"You think you are so powerful." Bark said. "Did you notice I have these big guns right here?" He pointed towards his muscles.

"You could have all the strength in the world, but you still can't match me because I have lots of power."

"Oh, Great Mr. Powerful, show me what you can do." Bark said mocking Dingo.

"Watch this." Dingo rebuked. Then, he changed into a blue hedgehog. "Eh, look at me, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog." Sleet gasped as an idea got into his head.

"That's it, Dingo." Sleet stated.

"What is it?" the creature asked.

"Can you go to Soleanna and get information on the Sword of Acorn?" He asked.

"Sure. What should I transform into?"

"Stay in your form as Sonic, you nitwit." Sleet said. "If the Sword is actually in the vault, steal it and bring it back."

"But what if someone finds out?" the dingo asked.

"Then, use this tranquilizer." Sleet answered back pulling out a few needles. "These will auto-inject the serum so be careful. I will talk to them over the intercom unit. I'll supply you."

After a while, the imposter arrived at Princess Sally's villa. The guards at the door didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

"Alright, Sleet. I made it in." Dingo said once he was out of sight.

"Excellent." The wolf answered. "Now, no one will ever expect that culprit to be…"

"SONIC!" a cheery girl's voice stated. Then, the imposter got glomped by Amy Rose. "I'm glad you're back from that mission."

"Uh, hey Amy. I'm back." Dingo said trying to keep his cover.

"Your voice. It sounds different." Amy stated in curiosity.

"I'm practicin' my voice actin' skills." The imposter said.

"I'm rather impressed for a second I thought you actually were from Down Under."

 _"How am I going to get out of this one?"_ Dingo thought. _"Oh right."_ He pulled out one of the tranquilizers and got Amy on the leg.

"Ow, did you just pinch me?" Amy asked.

"Nope." The imposter answered.

"Okay." Amy said; Suddenly, she was then starting to stumble. "Heeeyy, why do I feel sooooo sleeeeepy." Then, she collapsed onto the floor unconscious.

"Dingo, what is going on?" Sleet asked over the intercom.

"I ended up running into the girlfriend." Dingo responded. "I couldn't get out, so I had to use a tranquilizer."

"Okay, change of plans. Nab the girl and return to base." Sleet said.

"Dingo… ova and out." Dingo looked at Amy as he picked her up. "Wow, Sonic sure has a nice sheela." He carted her off without being seen.

After a while, the real Sonic came back. He was frustrated and slightly out of breath. Tails came into the room.

"Hey Sonic." Tails said.

"Hey, buddy." Sonic answered.

"How did it go?"

"I'm not going to do be a drill sergeant for GUN anymore." Sonic said. "Seriously, the training they have to go through is nuts."

"Sonic? Can you get everyone into the main center this instant?" Sally said over the speaker system.

"Sure, Sal." Sonic answered. "On my way." He went around finding members he could find and reported to the main center. Sally looked at everyone there.

"Wait a minute, where's Amy?" She asked.

"I thought she was with you." Sonic answered.

"Ugh, that girl. She's probably gone off to the mall and gone shopping." She said. "I'll pick up her comlink and get her here." She turned it on. "From Sally to Amy, come to the main center." There was no response. "Sally to Amy. Can you hear me?" Still no response. "She normally responds to her comlink."

"Let's just get started already." Sonic said. The princess turned on the communications to the heralder. On the screen was Nac the Weasel.

"Ello, loser squad." Nac stated to them.

"So, it's the mobster wannabes." Sonic stated. "What do you want?"

"Well, there is an artifact that we have in mind, see?" Nac explained pointing his gun at the screen. "And I want you to bring it to Team Hooligan's HQ as soon as possible."

"And what would that be?" Knuckles asked.

"We are looking for the Sword of Acorn." Sally was shocked to hear those words come out of the bounty hunter's lips.

"Why would you want that thing?" Sally asked.

"It's none of your business." Nac responded.

"It's not like you can do any harm to us." Sonic said with a smirk.

"You should wipe that smug look off your face and get us that sword… unless you want someone precious getting severely hurt." He said stepping to the side. The party was shocked as he showed Amy Rose bounded and gagged. She was held by Dingo.

"LET HER GO THIS INSTANT, YOU BASTARD!" Sonic roared with anger.

"Oh, did we hit a nerve?" Sleet said coming into the picture. "Look eediot, get us the sword and we'll give the hedgehog back to you. If you don't, well, I noticed that Bark has a hard time controlling himself around women." The party gasped.

"See you later, chums." Nac stated as the camera shut off.

"We have to free Amy." Sonic answered.

"I know you want to." Sally said. "But I was able to recognize the two dogs, they are Sleet and Dingo. The dastardly duo whom freedom fighters feared. These two were the ones who would track down weak fighters and hand them over to Robotnik. They are more cunning than they appear."

"So, how are we going to free here?"

"I'm afraid you'll need to get the Sword of Acorn, suga-hog." Bunny answered.

"It should be the treasury." Knuckles answered. "Where else would gold and artifacts be kept?"

"It's not there, Knuckle." Sally explained. "It's actually in a temple within the Aquatic Ruins. It was part of the ancient capital before it was absorbed by the swampy jungle."

"But who is going to go with us?" Tails asked. Then, Cosmo entered the room.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Cosmo asked.

"Yes actually, can you go with Sonic and his team to the Aquatic Ruins?" Sally asked. "Uh, sure… I guess." Cosmo replied. Tails was blushing, thinking that he is going on an adventure with Cosmo.

The party was traveling through the deep jungles of West Side Island until they found some pillars coming out of the ground for unknown reasons.

"Well, it looks like we have made it." Sonic said as the party finally caught up.

"Why couldn't we have just taken the Sky Patrol, sugar?" Bunny asked, catching her breath.

"There would be no place to safely land it." Tails explained as he was carrying Cosmo. Knuckles came out from burrowing and he was covered in mud.

"I think I found the temple." Knuckles stated. "It's just up ahead in that direction."

"Good work." Sonic answered.

"But please note it kind of flooded." He continued. "We might have to swim."

"Oh man." Sonic grimaced, they advanced to the temple and went inside. They saw that the temple was completely filled with water. "Hey, you said it was kind of flooded." They saw a stone head sticking out of the water and there was a switch over the head.

"Can we swim across?" He asked. Bunny stuck her metal arm into the water. He heard some clanging and she pulled it out. She saw she grabbed a piranha.

"We're going to need a boat for this." Tails answered. Cosmo looked out and noticed it was nighttime.

"I'll take care of this." She stated. She summoned down a vine that connected to the top of the head all the way to their location.

"Okay, not bad." Sonic stated. "Can you make it across?"

"Sonic!" Tails yelled at him. Before he could do anything else, Cosmo was already going out over the water while hanging on the vine. "Cosmo, wait." He said flying towards her. "Oh wait, I can fly."

Tails flew over the water and stepped onto the head. He pulled the switch. "Well, that takes care of that."

The water began to go down. Tails noticed that Cosmo was feeling a little upset and he was hit by a dart that fired from the wall in the leg.

"Ow." Tails stated.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine." He answered as he started to fly over. As the water decreased in height, it revealed a large statue on top of a platform. There were doors revealed from the water and several pillars to walk on, but the piranha infected water remained. The group noticed a set of stairs to walk down to get to the lower level. The party headed down while Cosmo was getting back to the upper floor from the vine. Tails flew down to the upper floor to meet her.

Sonic was looking at the statue trying to figure out what is up with the doors and statue. Knuckles and Bunny noticed switches to open the doors. As the echidna pushed one of the switches, he heard some shooting.

"Whoa." He stated dodging out of the way. He looked towards the wall where he was facing and saw there were darts sticking into the wall. "These switches are booby trapped. These is going to take a while."

"But what about these darts?" Bunny asked pulling one out of the wall. "I might hold on to one of these buggers." Tails was seeing a saddened expression on Cosmo's face.

"Cosmo, are you okay?" he asked.

"Everyone's just working fine." She said. "You can fly, Sonic has super speed, Knuckles has strength, and Bunny has technical things. But what can I do to help this group?"

"Uh…" Tails was trying to think for a minute.

"I can't really do anything useful for this group. All I can do is just stay in the background and play cheerleader." Cosmo answered.

"You don't have to do that, Cosmo. I'm sure there is something for you to do." Tails answered. Then, there was a pause. "Is it getting warmer?"

"No, I don't think so." Cosmo replied.

"Because I'm starting to sweat and I haven't done much."

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked with concern.

"I should be fine." He answered.

The three mobians below heard a click and started to hear the sound of running water. Bunny looked down.

"The water's risin'. Everyone out, quickly." Bunny stated. The trio jumped over to the stairs racing the rising water. They were able to make it out back to the upper floor.

"Well, that stinks." Knuckles answered. "It's timed."

"We got to move quickly if we want to get that sword." Sonic said. He turned to his friend and spoke without thinking. "Tails, can you get the switch?"

"Okay." Tails answered, a little saddened now. He flew over and flipped the switch a second time. He was flying back as the waters were going down, but he suddenly started to lose altitude.

"Tails, fly up. Fly up." Sonic said.

"I'm trying." The fox responded. He tried to fly but was going off course and fell downward landing on a revealed platform.

The four raced down the stairs to see what was wrong.

"Tails, are you okay?" he asked. "Can you move?" Tails tried to move.

"I can't move my leg and one of my tails is frozen." He said.

"I'll get you, little buddy." Sonic stated. He leapt onto multiple platforms to reach him and picked him up. "Knuckles, Bunny, check on the other rooms."

"Right." The two stated as they headed out into the area. Sonic leapt back to the stairs carrying Tails.

"Did anything happen while you were over there?" Sonic asked.

"I remember getting hit by some dart up by the head of the statue. Tails answered.

"The dart had something to do with it." Cosmo said.

"I'll find the dart." Sonic said. "Just get him to safety." Sonic raced up the wall to get to the dart, while Cosmo carried Tails to safety. Meanwhile, Bunny noticed that there is a switch that was underwater. She tried to reach the switch but couldn't reach it without the piranhas biting her. So, she was forced to leave it.

"So much for being fine." Tails said. "At least, you can be more active."

"But this is not what I had in mind." Cosmo replied in concern. Then, they heard the waters coming back and the three came back.

"I have the dart that hit Tails." Sonic said. He handed the dart to Cosmo. She rubbed her finger along the point's edge.

"The darts were lined with poison." Cosmo said. She reached up and pulled a piece of her leafy hair and cleaned off the substance. "It's from the angelus tuba."

"That's bad, right?" Sonic asked. "Very."

"I know the ingredients to make an antidote and they are in the jungles nearby." Cosmo said. "But we need to get them." She wrote down the ingredients needed to make the potion to cure Tails and handed them to Sonic. "Please get the ingredients."

"Will do." Sonic stated and he zoomed off to find the stuff. She pulled off the vine she created and formed a bowl out of it. She went to the steps and got some water.

"Can someone heat this up?" Cosmo asked.

"I'll take care of this." Bunny stated taking the bowl and starting to create a fire to warm it up.

"What should I do?" Knuckles asked.

"Look out for Sonic." She said.

"Okay, whatever." He replied. Cosmo held Tails' hand as he laid on his back.

"What's happening to me?" Tails asked.

"An antidote is going to be made for you." She answered in concern. "Please stay with me. There are going to be many disturbing images and sounds coming. Just focus on my face. I'm not going to leave your side. Hold on for as long as you can."

Tails looked at her as everything around him started to become greatly distorted…


	7. The Sword of Acorn: Pt 2

The Sword of Acorn: Pt 2

Tails was waking up from a trance. He looked around and noticed that his friends were nearby him. He held his head.

"Ugh, guys?" He asked. "What's going on?"

"Oh thank goodness." Sonic said. "I'm glad you're going to be fine."

"Cosmo's little magic potion had cured ya, sugar." Bunny answered,

"Where are we?" Tails asked.

"We're still at the Aquatic Ruins." Sonic replied. "We've paused all progress until we knew you were going to be okay."

"Let's go." Tails said. He tried to move but failed. "My leg and tail are still paralyzed."

"That'll recover in time, Tails." Cosmo stated. "But right now, you need your rest."

"But…" Tails said, however Cosmo had an irritated expression on her face. "Alright."

"Well, someone is going to have to go to the other side of the water and flip the switch." Sonic explained.

"I'll give it a shot." Cosmo said as she got up onto the vine. "Here I go." She started to cross the vine over the water. But the plant snapped and Cosmo plummeted into the water. The three screamed.

"HOLY CRAP!" Sonic yelled frightened. Then, Cosmo reemerged unharmed.

"What is it!?" Tails asked.

"I fell into the water." Cosmo answered. He was terrified when he heard this.

"But for some reason the piranhas aren't seeing her as fish food." Knuckles added bluntly. "I wonder why."

"Maybe it's because she's a plant?" Bunny said. She turned to Cosmo. "No offense, sugar."

"None taken." Cosmo stated as she swam towards the head. She climbed up it and pulled the lever.

"Can you get the hidden switch?" Bunny asked her.

"Sure." Cosmo answered as she jumped into the lowering water level. She swam towards the lever. That was hard to reach and pulled it. The water continued to decrease until it was dry land as Cosmo got out of the water. Then, they heard a click.

"Looks like the water hazard's gone for good." Sonic said. "Bunny, remain here to watch Tails."

"Okay." Bunny stated as Sonic and Knuckles headed down to the lower level. There were five doors revealed. One under the statue's feet, and two on the adjacent walls. In addition, four torches appeared; two on each side of the statue. As they looked they noticed that there was a platform in front of the doors except for the center one.

"I wonder what those platforms are for." Knuckles asked, wondering as he stepped on one. The door opposite of that one opened up. "Oh." As he stepped off of it, the door came down. "Shoot." He went back to the platform and it went up. He stepped off of it, the door went down. He stepped on the platform and remained. "Somebody, check what's inside." Sonic looked and went inside the door. "What's in there?"

"I see a switch." The hedgehog answered.

"How many switches does a dungeon really need?" Knuckles commented. "It's not like we're in some kind of platformer." Sonic flipped the switch and Cosmo saw that one of the torches lit up.

"Hey, a torch lit up. I'm thinking we should light the torches." She answered.

"So, it's wash, rinse, repeat?" Knuckles asked stepping off the platform. Then, the door closed.

"Hey, Knucklehead? Can you get me out of here?" Sonic asked loudly.

"Sorry." He answered as he stepped back onto the platform, opening the door. Sonic walked out.

"Let's keep the door open until the switch is pulled." Sonic reminded the echidna. Each of the other three doors were opened with time and their switches were flipped. Then, all four torches were lit. "Well, now what?"

"So, you have passed the water and fire." A booming voice echoed. "Now, prepare to face me. The guardian of the Sword of Acorn." Then, the head of the statue looked down at them.

"You got to be kidding me." Knuckles stated. The statue stepped off its platform and prepared its halberd.

"Out of the way." Cosmo said as the three dodged out of the way of the statue's thrusts. Cosmo hid behind the pillars as Sonic and Knuckles were in the open. As the statue was aiming at the two, she wrapped roots up around the tip of the spear.

"I can do this." She said, breaking of the sharp point of the spear weapon. "That should put a stop to the thrusts."

The statue changed tactics. It raised its halberd and swept across the floor knocking down every pillar in sight. Cosmo ended up getting covered in rubble. Sonic and Knuckles rushed over to pull her out.

"Are you okay?" Sonic asked.

"I should be fine." Cosmo answered, coughing up dust. The halberd came around going the other way. Knuckles grabbed the both of them and ducked out of the way of the blade. He went over as the blade came back and he punched it into the ground.

The golem flipped over the echidna; this time raising the blade above his head. The echidna dodged out of the way as the blade came down. The blade made a large dent in the ground where it landed. The statue made a second swing down and the three got out of the way. Then, a final swing came down and got imbedded into the ground.

Sonic took the opportunity; he leapt onto the halberd's handle and ran up the staff. He began to spin dash and zoomed up the handle and slammed right into the golem's head. The statue stumbled backwards and it rebalanced itself.

"Go." The voice stated. The center door opened up. "But only the hedgehog is allowed to go through this door." Then, the statue crumbled to dust.

"Okay…" Knuckles answered.

"Guess I have to go in." Sonic stated. We walked slowly into the hallway. He came across a dark room with a hole in the ceiling. Beneath the light shining in from the hole, there was a stone alter made of marble. And laying on top of the alter, was what appeared to be a rusted gladius.

"What's this?" he asked to himself. Then, he reached for it and the light got brighter. He pulled back and the light faded. "What's this?" He reached for it, light getting brighter. When he grabbed it there was a brief flash of light, and the rust on the blade vanished.

"Is this the Sword of Acorn I was to look for?" he thought. "If so, my job is done." He put the weapon over his shoulder and walked back out where the others were waiting for him. Tails was finally able to get back up on his feet and move again.

"Did you find anything?" Tails asked.

"I did. I found the sword." Sonic stated swinging it around.

"Cool, can I hold it?" Knuckles asked.

"Sure." He said, tossing it to the echidna. Knuckles caught it and the sword dragged his hand down with a thud.

"Ugh." The echidna grunted. "This thing is extremely heavy." Bunny and Tails ran over to help him lift it. "Sonic, how were you able to carry this?"

"I don't know." Sonic answered. She went over and was able to easily pick it up with one hand.

"The sword must be under an enchantment of some kind." Cosmo said, coming up with an explanation.

"Hey, check out this engraving." Tails noted, spotting writing that was in the metal. "It looks like a message. We'll have to look at it when we get back."

After they had returned, Tails was sitting on a chair in the dining room working on a tablet. Cosmo entered the same room, she went to him.

"Tails? Can I talk to you?" Cosmo asked Tails.

"Sure." He answered looking up from his tablet.

"Did you find out what the writing said?" She asked.

"I figured it out." Tails replied. "It said 'whoever the light shone down, is worthy to be the master of steel'."

"Sounds rather poetic." She replied.

"Since the light shone on Sonic, he's the only one who can use it." Tails joked. "Boy, isn't those Hooligans are in for a surprise." Cosmo chuckled when she heard that. Tails sighed. "You did very well out there."

"Why, thanks Tails." Cosmo replied, smiling.

"I just wished I could help more." He added. "I'm not much of a hero."

"Don't think that way." She said. "Even if you end up being second to Sonic many times, you'll always be my number one hero." Then, Cosmo leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"AHH!" Tails shouted. His tongue stuck out with a heart at the tip of his tongue and his eyes went cock-eyed; his face turned bright red as he fell off his chair.

"Uh, Tails?" She asked in concern.

"I… uh… I… uh…" The fox could only spit out. Then, the princess Sally Acorn came into the room.

"I wanted to talk to you, Cosmo." Sally said. Then, she notice Tails on the floor. "Are you okay, Tails?"

"I… uh… I… uh…" Tails responded in the same surprised tone as before.

"Is something wrong with Tails?" She asked Cosmo.

"Not that I know of." The plant girl answered.

"Anyway for all the hard work, Team Sonic has done… I've decided to give you guys a reward." The princess handed Cosmo two tickets. "These two tickets are for entry into Twinkle Park."

"Oh, thank you, princess." Cosmo said. "I've never been there before."

"You might enjoy it; it's a theme park. It's even advertised that cute couples get in for free." Sally explained. "Sonic and Amy are already making plans to go."

"I'll talk to Tails about it once he's better." Cosmo replied.


	8. Return to the Grassroots

Return to the Grassroots

Antoine was in his office and was polishing a few medals that were hung on the shelves at the time. He shook the bottle.

"I ran out of polish just my luck." Antione stated. Then, someone buzzed on a line. He went back to his desk and picked up the phone. "Ello."

"Hey Antoine." A voice said.

"Oh, Princess." Antoine answered. "I didn't expect you to call."

"Can you come to the villa? If you don't have anything important."

"I'm on my way." Antoine said as he grabbed his coat.

When he arrived at the villa, he saw that Rotor was also called by Sally as well. Then, the princess came outside.

"What's all the commotion, Sally?" Rotor asked.

"I have given our special team a day-off and sent them on a trip to Twinkle Park." Sally responded. "So, I'm thinking we should take the day off as well.

"Uh, princess." Antoine stated, nervously. "I don't think that would be wise. You would be vulnerable in the outside world."

"I know that. But we will be in a familiar area that we haven't been to in a while." Sally replied. "It would be nice to explore for a day." She paused. "And besides Team Sonic is having the time of their lives right now."

Meanwhile at Twinkle Park, Knuckles and Bunny were at the entrance of the park while Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Cosmo were already inside.

"Oh come on." Bunny answered. "It says that cute couples get in for free."

"Access denied." The monitor stated.

"Why won't you let us through?" She asked.

"A cyborg rabbit and an ill-tempered echidna do not classify as a cute couple." It remarked.

"You have to let us through." Knuckles stated.

"You need to talk to the manager." It continued.

"Fine, where is he?" the echidna asked.

"He's in the park."

"Can you let us in to see him?"

"No, you're not allowed in the park."

"Excuse us." A fat cat stated. He was walking past them with a robot.

"Welcome to Twinkle Park, cute couple." the monitor replied.

"They are a cute couple!?" Bunny yelled.

"Access denied." The monitor rebuked.

"Access denied!?" Knuckles roared. "Deny this!" Knuckles grabbed the monitor.

"What are you doing?" it said.

"ARGH!" Knuckles shouted as he was slamming the monitor against the sidewalk repeatedly in anger. He tossed the monitor away to catch his breath. A guard for the park noticed this event.

"That monitor had it coming to him." The guard stated to him. "It was an ass to begin with. Go ahead through."

"Thank you." Bunny stated.

"Much more humane service." Knuckles added.

Back on West Side Island, the three mobians rode in a small shuttle towards a familiar spot in the Great Forest. It was one of the most beautiful locations in the Wood Zone, at least, that was what the three former freedom fighters though when they gazed upon their old home.

"Wow, so many memories, eh Sally?" Rotor sighed looking down at the half-overgrown clearing with nostalgia. "Can you believe all of the times we planned raids on Robotropolis here?"

"Personally, I would prefer never to revisit those old memories again, monsieur." The shuttle landed on the small airstrip that had been made for the Tornado, and the three friends got out. Sally immediately walked over towards one of the nearby treehouses, a melancholy look on her face.

"It feels like it was only yesterday." Sally said sadly, as Rotor walked in behind her. "There's the spot Bunny used to cut our hair." She turned. "And over there is where Antione and Sonic got into a fight over their favorite foods."

"Yeah, that's the only time I've ever seen a life or death battle over the merits of crepe-suzette over cheese chili dogs." Rotor chuckled. "I don't think those two ever came to an agreement over that one." As they walked around the hut, Sally noticed the terrible disrepair the whole building seemed to be in. There were holes in the roof and chairs and tables were overturned everywhere. "I can't believe Sonic and the others let this place run down so much."

"Well, they only use the command center, Sally." Antione noted, picking up and overturned chair only to have it break under his weight when he tried to sit down. "I doubt they're over in these buildings very much."

Looking around near the broken table, Sally noticed an old picture frame turned upside down. Walking over and picking it up, the princess saw a picture of all the freedom fighters huddled together in a group hug. Smiles on all of their faces.

"This was so long ago…" Sally said somberly; a tear landing on the broken glass. "Oh Sonic, where did we ever go wrong?"

"Were you saying something, my princess?" Antione asked her. "Is there anything I can 'elp you with?"

"No, Antione. I'll be fine." She told him, slipping the broken photograph into the folds of her dress. "Just got something in my eye."

"Well, it is rather dusty in 'ere." He stated. "What's in this old closet?" Sally went over and opened the door. Immediately, Antione's eyes went wide in horror as he jumped behind the table shaking in fear. "Oh no, not her." The wolf whined. "Please anything but that monster."

"Huh? I wondered where I put her." Rotor replied thoughtfully stroking his chin. "Guess I just stuck her away after so many malfunctions." The humanoid form of Robecca stared at them blankly from the closet. Her freakish bride of mobistein hairdo hidden by the shadows. Looking behind the de-activated robot, Rotor found a bag filled with metal rods.

"Hey Sally, I finally found the cotter pins." Rotor smiled. "Sonic must have stuck them in her while I was working on the catapults."

"Wow, zere is really a big collection of what do you say junk in this closet. No?" Antione noted picking up the busted head of a buzz bomber. "Though is the Robo-Sally hiding in one of these closets?"

"Haha, very funny, Antione." Sally replied rolling her eyes. "There's probably a lot of stuff we forgot about locked in storage."

"We did kind of pack up and move out of here in a hurry after Julian blew himself up." Antione stated. "Oh, that reminds me." He turned to the walrus. "Rotor, why did you build Ro-becca in the first place?"

"Well… I… That is… Um…" the walrus looked at the ceiling innocently. "She was supposed to be my lab assistant, that's it."

"Then, you already had Tails helping you?" Antione cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, yes but… I…" Rotor stuttered again.

"Oh, I get it. She was there to keep you warm on cold nights, no?" The wolf wiggled his eyebrows.

"Please, stop that." Rotor replied sheepishly. Tired of hearing Antione make fun of the poor mechanic, Sally slipped her hand behind the robotic assistant and flipped a switch on it's back.

"Oh, there you are sweetheart." The robot declared fixing its gaze upon Antione. "I've been lookin' all over for you."

"AAAAIIIIIIEEEEE! Ze machine, it is alive." Antione screamed bolting out of the door as fast as he could go. "Run for your lives, every gentlemen for himself."

"Wow, I didn't realize Antione could go that fast." Rotor noted watching the craze robot chase the captain of the guard back and forth across the ramps of Knothole.

"Must be all the extra training Ant has been putting himself and the other guards through." Sally replied as the robot chased the wolf into the lake.

"Come back my love."

Meanwhile at Twinkle Park, the three couples were having the time of their lives.

"Wow, this cotton candy is really sweet." Cosmo smiled licking the sugary pile of fluff off a stick. "I can't believe how yummy this is."

"You should try these elephant ears." Tails responded chowing down on the cinnamon-filled treat.

"Oh no, how horrible." Cosmo exclaimed. "Those poor elephants, how are they going to hear now?"

"Oh Cosmo, they aren't really elephant ears. Hey, why don't we go over and check out the circus tent." As the two went away, Knuckles and Bunny walked over towards the midway.

"Knuckles-sugar, why don't y'all go over to the ring toss and win me a prize?" The rabbit winked at him; her message not getting across to the oblivious echidna.

"Sure, I'd be happy to win you a prize." Knuckles shrugged. "But I really think you could win one for yourself."

"Step right up, dreadboy and win yourself a prize." The carnival barker announced twirling his cane around his index finger. "It's only one mobium for three shots. Care to test your luck?" Knuckles put the coin on the table and pick up the rings. But as he picked them up, the rings began to disappear.

"Hey, what gives?"

"Ah, you went through all three rings already. Too bad." The carnie smiled pulling his straw hat down over his eyes. "You are free to try again if you pay another mobium." Bunny stared at the carnie in confusion…

There was something familiar about that cane carrying barker with a drooping mustache. He was awfully short for a male mobian and his clothes were too baggy to make out his muscles. Bunny swore there was something off about his large pink and white ears. And she was sure that he didn't move like a carnie.

"If you don't think you can do the ring toss, there's always the strength game." The carnie walked over to a tall post with a bell on the top. "If you can hit the bell, you win a prize." As the shadowy carnival barker turned around, Bunny saw a familiar pair of small bat wings on his back. He eyes going wide. Bunny Rabbot ran up and grabbed the hammer away from Knuckles.

"Don't worry about this one, sugar." Bunny told him shoving the carnie onto the platform. "I think I'm gonna win a prize for y'all."

"Wait, what are you doing?" the carnie shrieked. "Don't hit the… YAAAAAHH!" Bunny slammed the hammer down on the platform sending the carnie flying up to knock the bell off and sent him soaring straight into the air. As the flustered bat mobian was sent flying across Twinkle Park, several rubies and gemstones showered down onto the couple.

"Hey, it's raining gems." Knuckles exclaimed holding his hands out and picking up precious gemstones. "Guess you must have won the big prize, huh."

"Oh, I was dealing with an annoying batgirl who was trying to get her revenge." Bunny chuckled. "I don't think we're going to have any more trouble out of that shifty Rouge for a while."

Back at Knothole, Sally was picking up the broken remains of some furniture when she heard the roaring of an engine outside the hut.

"Did someone leave the shuttle on?" Rotor asked in annoyance.

"It wasn't me, my walrus friend." Antione replied. "Did you happen to leave it on princess?"

"I don't think that's the shuttle, Antione." Sally replied nervously looking out the window. She turned pale at the sight of several canines zipping around on motorized bikes. "Um, King Ant, I think some of your subjects are back to have a word with you."

"It's ze hyenas!" He shrieked putting his hands on his face. "What are we going to do?"

"We need to defend ourselves." Rotor replied slamming his fist into his palm. "Antione, it's time to show your patriotic pride and do what comes natural to you."

"I surrender." He stated.

"No, not that one." Sally mentioned, facepalming. "Get your sword out and get ready to do battle."

"Wow, this is a lovely shuttle someone left out here." One of the hyena bikers chuckled.

"Let's take her for a joyride." Another one proclaimed. Surrounded on all sides by hostile enemies, the trio of ex-freedom fighters pondered how they were going to get out of this one.

The three horrified freedom fighters could only stare out the window at the circling hyenas who were ready to pounce upon them like fresh meat. The pack leader stopped his cycle near the entrance and looked inside the window of the hut.

"We know our king is in there and the blue spiky one isn't here to help you this time." The growling canine snarled. "Now, give us our main course or we'll have you other two as an appetizer and dessert."

"Sacre bleu, I am too young and handsome to die." Antione stated diving under a table and shaking like a leaf. "I zaught I was rid of these ruffians a long time ago."

"We can't just sit back and let them take Antione." Rotor exclaimed, smacking his fist into his palm. "He's the only guy in Soleanna I can beat at checkers."

"That isn't helping, Rotor." The French pup replied.

"Antione, you have to fight. You are the leader of West Side Island's defense force." Sally stated to him. "Show them why I made you commander."

"You are right, princess." Antione stood up, pulling his sword out of its scabbard. "I will not let zese criminals harm my friends. Viva la Soleanna." He charged towards the hyenas…

"Wow, this roller coaster is really really tall." Cosmo said looking towards the top of the hill in fear of the hill. "I can't even see the top through the clouds."

"It's okay, Cosmo. We'll just go on the Merry-go-Round instead." Tails answered. "I'm sure those will be a lot more fun to ride."

"Okay, but could you get me some cotton candy?" Cosmo asked. The fox walked over to the concession stand and bought a stick of cotton candy. But as he was walking back over towards Cosmo, he suddenly bumped into a small brown form with big blue eyes. The little girl he had bumped into fell over and dropped her plush toy into a puddle.

"Oh no, I dropped by chao doll." A young female mobian's voice whined. "Why can't you watch where you're going, buddy?"

"Gosh, I'm really sorry, miss." Tails apologized picking up the doll he had accidently knocked out of her arms and handed it back to her. "I didn't mean to knock you over like that."

"Oh, that's okay. Thank you for handing me my doll back." The girl exclaimed happily. "Wow, you're Tails the fox, aren't you? It's so really nice to meet you." Tails, then, noticed he was talking to a young brown rabbit in a short orange dress. Noticing the small immortal chao hovering by her shoulder, Tails recognized who she was in an instant.

"Hey, you're Cream the rabbit aren't you." Tails exclaimed. "Bunny told me that her niece would be visiting Twinkle Park today."

"That's right and this is my little friend, Cheese." She replied pointing to the chao floating over her shoulder. "I just won this doll in the ring toss for my little friend here. It was very kind of you to get it out of that puddle for me."

"Aw, shucks. It was nothing." Tails replied nervously, scratching the back of his neck, as the starry eyed Cream stared at him. "I would have done it for anyone."

"Tails, there you are." Cosmo came running up, grabbing the cotton candy out of his hand, and pulling him away by the arm. "We gotta get over to the Merry-go-Round before the line gets big again."

"Okay, Cosmo." He pointed back at Bunny's niece. "By the way, this is Cream and her little friend Cheese."

"Cream and Cheese?" Cosmo said with a small laugh. "Sounds more like a chip dip than a person's name."

"Charmed to meet, you two." Cream said coldly narrowing her eyes, annoyed. Then, she smiled again. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to get back to my mommy before she leaves the park."

"Okay, see you later, Cream." Tails waved as Cosmo dragged him off. "Tell your mom, Vanilla, that Tails said 'Hi.'." After they had left, Cream turned towards Cheese.

"Wow, that Tails was really cute. I think he and I would be a really cute couple." She looked forward and a small fire burned in her eyes. "But before I can get the fox of my dreams, there's a certain annoying plant I have to chop up into a salad first."

Meanwhile on the coaster, Knuckles and Bunny were riding up the track towards the top of the hill.

"Man, this is really boring." Knuckles complained, crossing his arms over his chest. "This ride is so boring and slow. I thought you said this would be exciting, Bunny."

"Don't worry, y'all get excited in three… two… one." She stated as the coaster shot down the hill at 125 miles per hour. "Weeeeee!" She exclaimed her arms in the air.

"AHHHHHH!" Knuckles shrieked holding on to the bar for his dear life.

While, back in Knothole, Antione was swinging his sword wildly at the biker. The hyena dodged out of the way of the rapier's range as the sword sliced all over the area where the hyena and his biker stood.

"Ha ha, you missed me, your majesty." The biker chuckled. "You're going to have to do better than that."

"That's what you think." Antione replied. Suddenly, the bike fell into neatly sliced pieces and the biker's pants hit the floor revealing a pair of Amy Rose printed boxers.

"HEY, MY HOG!" the biker screamed. "AND MY PANTS!" Grabbing his pants and the lead biker ran off into the bushes.

"That's how you mince. Class dismissed." Antione answered putting his rapier away.

"Why you bratty little wolf." The female hyena biker drove her cycle straight at him. "I'm gonna turn you into road kill." Seconds before the bike reached the surprised Antione, a female mobian came soaring out of the hut slamming into the biker with a flying kick knocking her clean off her bike.

"So, you want to cause problems do you?" Sally climbed onto the bike's seat side saddle before revving up the bike. "Let me show you how a noble woman rides a bike." Revving the engine she tore after the terrified hyena chasing her out of the clearing.

The third biker in the trio walked up to Antione lifting a crowbar over his head.

"You stupid, punk." The third biker snarled. "I'm gonna bash your skull in and spread your brains all over the grass."

"Well, that's what you think." Rotor commented stepping out of the hut. On his shoulders, were lasers, photon beams, particle distingrators, machine guns, and two big gatling guns complete with chains of bullets. "We'll have a scientific test. How many holes can you put in a hyena biker and still recognize him?" Rotor revved up a mini-gun that was in his hands and opened fire right at the hyena's feet.

"Oww, Oh, EEee." The panicked biker wailed, dancing out of the way of the bullets before running off into the woods. "I should have stayed in bed today." The leader came back out of the bushes his pants tied up with a rope.

"You are the worst king, we ever had." The leader roared cracking his knuckles. "I'm going to tear your royal carcass to pieces."

"You know? You seem a little uptight." Antione noted, smiling. "I think what you really need is a girlfriend and I just happen to have the perfect candidate." He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled.

"Oh, there you are lover boy." Ro-becca said bursting out of the hut, racing towards the hyena leader. "Oh, you are the cutest thing ever."

"AAHHHHHHH! GET HER AWAY FROM ME!" The leader screamed running for his life from the rampaging robot. She finally caught up to him at the edge of the clearing.

"There's no running from love, sweetheart." Ro-becca stated. "And I'm fully programmed for love." Panicked screams came from the edge of the clearing as Rotor and Antione looked on in horror.

"I didn't even think that as possible." Rotor said, eye twitching.

"I only have one question." Antione replied, his face going white as a sheet. "Why in the world did you program her to do that?"

"Well, I don't think those bikers will be bothering us anymore." Sally told them coming out on the other side of the clearing. "Say, did you two deal with those other two- By the walkers, what is she doing to him?!"

"Wow, Amy. I've never been through a tunnel of love before." Sonic comment as they entered the swan boat. "Is this like going on a haunted ride?"

"Of course, not silly." Amy laughed. "It's all romantic themed. There is no way there's going to be anything scary in here." The two sailed into the dark tunnel. Overhead, small nightopians with heart-shaped halos and wings fell around with bows and arrows. Nights flew by sprinkling fairy dust on the couple in the swan boat.

"Oh, this is so romantic." Amy said, holding her hands to the side of her head.

"Oh, this is so boring." Sonic replied trying to stifle a yawn. Then, the room went completely dark. And the cardboard image of a whale popped up on the right-hand.

"AHH!" Sonic yelled grabbing onto Amy.

"Umm, Sonic?" Amy asked, her face a deeper shade of red than Knuckles. "I don't mind you hugging me, but would you please stop clinging to my bosom?"

"Oh, uh, sorry." He replied, pulling away from her. The two stared at each other in the boat as the lights grew dimmer and dimmer. "Amy… Would you like to…" He asked nervously.

"Sure… I'd love to…" Amy replied. The two closed their eyes and puckered their lips, leaning forward only to touch something very hairy and fuzzy. "Sonic, you really need to shave."

"Really I was going to tell you the same." He answered in surprise.

"Oh, I didn't know you cared." A male's voice stated. Suddenly, the boat came out into the light again, only to find a large purple cat sitting in between them. Then, a green frog with a tail hopped out of the tunnel's river and hopped away.

"There you are, Fwoggy." The cat leaped out of the boat and ran after him. "Wait for me."

"Great another date at the amusement park ruined." Amy grumbled.

"Well, this has been the weirdest day I've ever had at Twinkle Park." Sonic replied shaking his head.


	9. Story of Shadow

Story of Shadow

 _Sonic was resting on the couch after some time. Then, he heard a voice while he was resting._

 _"Hey, Sonny." The voice said. Sonic had opened his eyes to see who is was. He saw it was Uncle Chuck standing before him._

 _"Uncle Chuck." Sonic said smiling. "I'm glad you aren't in the hospital anymore."_

 _"I just got released today." Charles answered. "But there is something I want to tell you. However, I need you to get the rest of your team here as quick as possible."_

 _"Got it." Sonic answered before zooming out of the door. It was a few hours later that Sonic came back with every member of his team. "Okay, everyone's here. What is it?"_

 _"I have been in a lot of thought as of recently." Charles explained. "But now, I will have to share with you some information I'm uneasy to talk about which I will share with you."_

 _"So, where do babies come from?" Knuckles asked. The others gave him a funny look._

 _"Wait, did Ivo give you the talk?" Sonic asked._

 _"No." The echidna answered._

 _"We aren't having that conversation." Chuck stated._

 _"Oh, sorry." Knuckles replied._

 _"I'll let you in sugar." Bunny told the naïve echidna._

 _"Okay, moving on." Charles said. "What I'm going to tell you about is Shadow. First off, he is a bastard."_

 _"No kidding, Uncle Chuck." Sonic said. "He sent you to the hospital."_

 _"Ugh, you don't get what I am saying." Chuck answered face palming. "Let me start back at the beginning." He paused. "It starts with King Archibald III, your grandfather. During his reign, his wife was having difficulties and there was a great fear that they wouldn't be able to have children. Because of which, his wife allowed him to have a mistress to produce an heir. And Shadow was the end result." The five of team Sonic were shocked. "It was about three or four years later that I was born." He paused. "I remember the last moments in which Shadow and I were together in the same house."_

* * *

There was a young blue hedgehog running in the hallways of the Starlight City Palace. There was an older black and red hedgehog pursuing him. The black hedgehog caught up with him.

"Hey Shadow." Charles asked him. "What did father say?"

"Well, I was going to be the heir to the throne." Shadow replied back to him.

"But I heard that a lot of people outside don't like it."

"Our father had promised me the throne when I was an infant."

"I know. I know." Charles paused. "Do you think the baby will change things?"

"Chuck, the baby isn't going to change didly-squat." Then, a guard showed.

"Prince Charles, we need to talk." The guard stated.

"Prince Charles?" Chuck asked in confusion. "I'm not the prince, Shadow's the prince."

"Uh, yeah about that." The guard answered. "Due to threats, Charles is now the heir to the throne."

"What!?" Chuck asked.

"This has to be a sick joke." Shadow stated in shock. "Please tell me this is just a joke."

"I'm sorry what I say is no joke, Shadow." The guard replied feeling uneasy. Shadow was filled with anger.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE HE WOUL BREAK HIS PROMISE!" Shadow roared.

"Shadow, please calm down." Chuck stated. But Shadow slapped him.

"Just leave me be." Shadow stated as he ran off.

"Shadow!" Chuck stated.

* * *

 _"That was the last time I saw Shadow." Older Charles stated. "He had abandoned the palace later that day."_

 _"One question." Sonic asked. "Who was the baby?"_

 _"That was your father, Sonic." Charles answered him._

 _"Oh…" Sonic sighed. "Okay."_

 _"Getting back with what I was saying." Charles continued. "For a couple years, I didn't hear much about Shadow. But what I did hear that he ran away from home and was living on the streets; the other thing I heard was that he was hanging out with a street rat named Rouge."_

 _"So, that bat girl is the same age as Shadow? Huh, who knew." Bunny replied._

 _"Then, the Great War picked up again." Charles said. "I was in the battle with Archibald."_

* * *

The hedgehogs were engaged in a battle against an army, where they were winning. Archibald and Charles were in the back ranks. They noticed some of the enemy retreating.

"Charles, you wait here." Archibald answered. "I'll pursue them."

"I don't think it's a good idea, father." Charles answered.

"Nonsense, we are winning the battle. And that is an exposed flank, we can easily win this." The king stated. "Forward men, after them." He and his twelve guards began to chase after them. But when the unit was isolated, there were large explosions around them. Ten of the guards were killed off, while two were severely injured. "What in the world?"

Then in the smoke, he heard the sound of necks breaking as he saw a silhouette of a bat. Then, he saw a silhouette of a hedgehog approach him. He picked Archibald up and beat down on him. The king tried to block the attacks from the silhouette. The hedgehog was able to get behind the king and dislocate his shoulder. He pushed him to the ground, then the hedgehog did an elbow smash on Archibald's back.

"AHHHH!" Archibald screamed in pain. He was rolled over and the dust cleared.

"This will teach you to break your promises… father." Shadow said. He grabbed his dad's foot and twisted his foot to an extreme angle.

"UGGGHHH!" The king yelled in agony when this occurred. Shadow slammed that ankle into the ground. "Why do you do this, Shadow?" Rouge the bat joined up with her.

"Do I have to tell you again? You broke your promise to me." Shadow answered. "Now, you will pay dearly for what you did? I have to make a living as a mercenary with Rouge as my partner and lover."

"So, you are going to kill me off?" Archibald stated in fear.

"I'm going to let you live, knowing that your mistake cost you greatly." Shadow replied. Then, he left with Rouge leaving Archibald there unable to move. Charles arrived shortly afterwards.

"FATHER!" Charles yelled rushing to him. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay." Archibald stated in grief. "SOMEBODY GET A MEDIC!"

* * *

 _"He was overwhelmed by grief, not over the wounds he had received, but over the fact that his own son had now became his worst enemy." The older Chuck said. "Archibald lost the will to live and took his own life."_

 _"That's very sad." Tails commented._

 _"The press Shadow the title, World's Ulitmate Lifeform, because no matter what mobians were able to throw at him. Nothing could stop him, not even Captain Boom." Charles shivered. "Shadow became legendary becoming mobian enemy #1."_

 _"Things were getting intense for you, Uncle Chuck." Sonic commented._

 _"While I was preparing for my coronation, I was visited by two G.U.N. agents. They were Adam Thorndike and Edward Tower." Chuck stated. "They had informed me that Shadow and Rouge were hired by Gerald Robotnik. He was a scientist who has gone rogue framing G.U.N. for holding the cure that save his granddaughter, Maria. He was threatening to use the Space Colony Arc to destroy Station Square unless they gave him the cure. But the guardian unit of nations didn't have a cure for her illness."_

 _"What was the illness?" Amy asked._

 _"Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome." Chuck stated; the party was shocked even farther. "They had me go with them to the raid onto the Space Colony Arc."_

* * *

Charles was on the Space Colony Arc with Adam and Abram. They were under fire in the hallway by robots.

"UGH! There's too many of them." Adam stated.

"Get a hold of yourself, Adam." Edward replied. "We need to break through the line." Then, a incoming message appeared on the communicator.

"This is command to Sigma-Alpha do you copy?" The message stated.

"Sigma-Alpha reporting." Adam stated.

"Robotnik has started charging up the weapon." The command center stated. "We have to stop that weapon now!"

"Most of the squad is engaged." Adam replied.

"We need to send someone to stop it before it destroys Central City." The command replied. Charles stood up.

"I'll go." Uncle Chuck answered.

"Are you sure, Charles?" Edward replied.

"Yes, I can't let someone with immense power abuse it." Charles stated.

"Just be careful." Adam answered. "And godspeed." Then, the blue hedgehog was able to find a way to the control room as Adam and Edward were able to break through the line.

Charles entered the control room; he looked around and saw no one was in here. Then there was a mech that walked up to him.

"So, someone is trying to stop me." A voice mentioned.

"You must be Professor Gerald Robotnik." Charles stated.

"And who are you supposed to be?" The professor asked.

"I am Charles Hedgehog." The blue hedgehog replied.

"Well Charles, prepare to be crushed by my mighty machine." Gerald answered. The mech fired out laser blasts towards Charles. The hedgehog dodged out of the way of the blasts. He lobbed a grenade towards the mech and it was a hit. The robot suit switched to using a lance instead of a laser. The mech rushed forward slashing down. Charles barely ducked out of the way.

"I can't keep this up forever." Charles thought. Then, he noticed the weapon almost ready to fire onto Mobius below. He leapt towards between the weapon's power supply and the robot suit. "Over here!" Charles shouted.

Gerald turned and faced the hedgehog. He lunged his lance towards him. Chuck was able to dodge out of the way and the lance smashed right into the weapon's power supply.

"GRRR!" Gerald shouted. "That does it. I will take you down with or without my mech." Gerald got out of the robot suit. He had a slight insane look on his face.

The two human soldiers went into a wide room with no robots inside it. They looked around the room and they looked up.

"Look out." Adam said, he pushed Edward to the side. They dodged out of the way of a drilling kick. They looked and they saw Rouge the bat flying away to be next to Shadow.

"It's the deadly duo." Edward replied.

"There will be no way two G.U.N. agents can stop us." Rouge stated. "I am the World's Greatest Thief."

"And I am the World's Ultimate Lifeform." Shadow answered.

Adam fired his gun at them, Shadow and Rouge dodged out of the way. Shadow tried to punch and kick at Edward, the soldier was able to block the attacks that were heading towards him. Rouge did another drill kick towards Adam Thorndike; he was able to move out of the way. Edward fired an energy pulse towards Shadow but the black hedgehog was able to dodge out of the way. Adam Thorndike threw two projectiles onto them and it wrapped around Rouge and Shadow's wrists.

"Got 'em." Adam said. "Thundercuffs, activate." The projectiles turned into handcuffs clipping onto the wrists and send a massive amount of electricity through Shadow and Rouge. Shadow growled in defiance as he shattered the link in the cuffs; he had and those that Rouge had. He pulled out the chaos emerald. Thinking fast, Edward pulled out his energy blaster.

"Chaos…" Shadow stated. Edward fired an energy blast towards the duo. "Ugh." Shadow blocked the energy blast with the emerald he had. There was a bright light shining.

"Oh." Rouge added as the light engulfed Shadow and Rouge. The blast went back and struck Abram in the head.

"OWWW!" Edward stated falling back. Adam went over to help his friend.

"Eddy!" Adam proclaimed in fear.

"I should be fine." He responded responded holding his head. "I'm glad I'm alright."

"But some of your features aren't what they used to be." Adam said.

"What do you mean?" He asked. Adam pointed him to a reflective surface. Abraham saw his brown eyes were gone. Now he had one yellow eye and a green eye. In addition, he had lost all color in his hair making it white.

"My god." Edward stated in shock. "I can't believe this happened. But where is Shadow and Rouge?" Adam looked behind him.

"Well, I guess we won't have to worry about them anymore." Adam commented. The two had saw that the two mobians were now encased in solid crystal and frozen in time.

"Not the way, I expected to happen but just as effective." Edward said.

"I just hope Charles is alright." Adam replied.

Charles and Gerald Robotnik were in an intense fight. Gerald was poked multiple times with Charles quills while Chuck was getting covered in bruises. Charles rushed forward and Gerald grabbed him with both hands and threw him. Chuck hit shelves and hit the floor with the wind knocked out of him.

"Give up, Charles." Gerald stated. "This will be the end of you, if you don't surrender."

"I'm never going to surrender." Charles rebuked him. "I will be strong. I'm fighting for my friends, family, and my country. I will not allow them to be in danger to the likes of you."

"Fine, your body will break before your spirit." Gerald commented as he rushed towards him. Charles kicked him back and rushed towards the mech. The professor ran after him.

Chuck saw that the mech had high power rockets. Gerald came around; Charles swung underneath the arm and adjusted the arm to face the window. Charles pushed the launch button and jumped away. As the rocket fired, Chuck grabbed a hold of something solid.

The rocket smashed through the window and exposed the area into the vacuum of space. The area was being sucked out of the area. The mech was sucked out as well as some of the surrounding debris. Gerald held on to something, but the suction was too strong. The professor yelled as he was pulled away into space.

Charles was able to climb to the control panel and get to the window control switch. He activated the emergency closing on the windows. Steel panels came out and closed the exposed area off. The hedgehog was out of breathe but was able to rest now. He looked up and saw a kid protected by a window looking down at him.

"After I returned from the Space Colony Arc, I returned to South Island." Old Charles explained. "But I was tired of the power games; I was disgusted by politics; I had willingly gave up my throne to my younger brother. I never wanted to rule a kingdom of my own; I became a knight in my brother's kingdom."

* * *

" _That is the story I have to share about Shadow." He continued. "I hope that this will help you."_

" _How come I never heard of this until now?" Sonic asked._

" _After the incident, the royal library did everything in their power to remove all trace of Shadow ever being a member of the royal family." Charles stated. "And lastly I didn't realize until much later that the boy who had saw me defeat Gerald was Julian."_


	10. The Threat of Metallix

The Threat of Metallix

Sally Acorn was looking through the files of several cases as she was inside the villa. She looked outside and saw Sonic and Amy out in the fields. She sighed.

 _"I'm glad Sonic is happy with her."_ She thought to herself. _"He deserved such a girl to be by his side."_ She turned back into the room. _"Back then, I was Sonic's girl and after we finished off Robotnik, we started turning to rebuild Soleanna to start West Side Island anew."_ She paused for a minute before continuing as she was putting the documents away. _"I wanted Sonic to settle down with me into the office; but after a month, he couldn't stand politics and left the villa. Now, I heard he'll get the throne of South Island as well. Should I have been more patient with him? It doesn't matter at this point. I have Ray now, and Sonic has Amy. There nothing we can do to change that fact…"_

"Are you okay, Sally girl?" a voice stated. Sally turned and saw it was Bunny talking to her.

"What?" Sally responded to her.

"Are you alright?" Bunny answered. "I noticed that you were just staring out into thin air."

"It's nothing." She responded to her friend. "Not much is going on."

"I didn't ask what was goin' on." Bunny noted. "You were thinkin' about somethin'." Then, the comlink for the princess went off. Sally picked it up.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Your majesty, zere is someone who wants to speak with Sonic." Antione said.

"Who is he?" She asked.

"More like it." He stated.

"Greetings." A robotic voice stated. "Omega E-123 wishes to speak with Sonic."

"One of the E-series?" Sally asked. "We'll inform Sonic of this."

"Team Metallix? On Whale Island?" Sonic asked.

"Affirmative." The droid answered. "They are planning a surprise attack on Central City. I was able to chart a route to intercept them through Seaside Hill."

"Central City? That's on the mainland." Antione stated. "That area is patrolled by G.U.N. officals."

"Which is the reason why we need to strike at Metallix as soon as possible before he has a chance to move from his spot." Omega stated.  
"Are you sure you can trust this machine?" Antione asked Sonic.

"He has a personal grievance against one of its members." The blue hedgehog answered.

"Get a map ready."

"Very well, then." Antione stated as he walked away. "If we can take down Metallix now, it'll be one less enemy to worry about."

The Sky Patrol landed on a small island off the coastal line of Seaside Hill upon Whale Island. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Omega stepped out of the landed craft. The sun was shining brightly and there was no cloud in the sky.

"Wow." Amy stated in awe. "If we weren't on a mission, this would be an excellent vacation spot. I should have brought my new bathing suit."

"We'll think about it after we beat Metal Sonic." Sonic stated as they started walking across the wooden pier to the larger island.

"Caution: Radar picked up underwater presense." Omega stated in his typical monotone voice. Then, an orca leapt out of the water nearby the wooden structure.

"Cool, a killer whale." Tails stated. Sonic just screamed in terror and leapt into someone's arms. Amy just chuckled. Sonic looked and he saw he landed in Knuckles' arms. "Oh…" Then, Knuckles dropped him.

"Sorry, I'm not that type of guy." Knuckles answered.

"Can you tell me why you reacted that way?" Tails asked. "You didn't have to act that way."

"After the plane crash in the ocean," Sonic stated. "A killer whale confused me for a seal."

"Oh, that explains it." Knuckles answered. "Well, let's get going." Upon crossing the pier, they noticed egg pawns on the beach. "What are Eggman's robots doing here?"

"I do not care." Omega stated. "They are worthless consumer models." Then, one of the egg pawns noticed them. "Preparing for engagement."

The egg pawns brought out their lances and started running towards the party, while others pulled out blasters and began firing. The party dodged out of the way of the shots. Sonic spindashed smashing some of the egg pawns.

An egg pawn tried to spear Amy, but she parried with her hammer. She knocked the bot into the air. She leapt up and smashed it into the ground.

Knuckles burrowed under the ground and popped up beating down on some of the bots. He began chucking the scrap metal at some other ones.

Tails stayed back with Omega. He pulled out his blaster and started firing at the egg pawns. Omega converted his right hand into a minigun. He began to rotate it.

"Annihilate." Omega stated as his arm fired an immense volley of bullets towards the enemy bots. Tails just stood there wide-eyed.

"Damn..." Tails stated to himself. He looked around and noticed something in the distance. He flipped a switch on his blaster and a telescopic scope popped up. He looked inside and saw an egg pawn preparing a mortar to fire down onto them. He aimed his blaster for a shot at the bot. "I hope I hit my mark." He pulled the trigger and he got a headshot from 500 meters away. "Got it."

After they had destroyed that set of egg pawns, the party continued down the strip of land towards the ocean palace, only to encounter more egg pawns.

"Grrr." Knuckles growled. "How many did he send?"

"Ammunition depleted. Reload process initiated." Omega stated as he grabbed Sonic and Amy, rolled them into a ball. He shoved the both of them into his arm.

"Ugh." Sonic groaned.

"That's no way to treat a girl." Amy rebuked the robot.

"Ammunition present." Omega said.

"Uh oh." Sonic said.

"Fire!" he continued. Sonic and Amy were blasted out of Omega's arm cannon. The two screamed as they barreled at high speed, smashing any robots in their way. Sonic grabbed Amy and protected her in his morph ball as they went through a stone wall and landed.

"Are you alright, Ames?" Sonic asked with the wind knocked out of him.

"I'm fine." She answered. "Ow, that wasn't very pleasant getting fired out of a cannon."

"Good thing, mobians have sturdy bones." The other three caught up with the two after the robots were defeated. The five noticed that they had arrived at the Ocean Palace.

"Wait, a pretty white palace." She continued as they walked through it.

"Primary Target is Metallix, don't forget it." Omega said.

"You're waaaaay too serious, Omega." Sonic noted.

"I wonder how the architect was able to build this palace over the water." Tails remarked.

"Beats me." Sonic answered. "Not like it's anything important." They decided to rest for a little bit from all of the fighting that they did. "Man that was a lot of robots."

"I've noticed that it's the same model over and over again." Tails said.

"So, he's just spamming us with these egg pawns?" Sonic asked in reply. "Can't he come with something, say original?"

"Maybe, it could be Metallix controlling the egg pawns?" Knuckles asked.

"Metal doesn't have the skills needed to run a vast army of robots." Sonic answered.

"I don't know." Tails said. "He did make his own group of robot badniks through persuasion."

"We're talking about Robotnik's mindless piles of scrap." Sonic stated. "Uh… save the present company."

"What's going to happen to you after you defeat Zero?" Amy asked Omega."

"I will return to my brethren and we will remain in isolation." Omega explained. "Until we fade into obscurity."

"That's rather dark."

"We are the last of Julian Robotnik's creations." Omega said. "We do not fit anywhere else and we should be forgotten about."

"Don't settle just yet." Sonic stated. Knuckles had spotted Grounder carrying some stuff while the robot was passing by the area.

"Hey, I found one of Metal Sonic's goons." He said to the party.

"Then, he must not be far off." Sonic responded. "Let's hurry." The group followed Grounder to the area where Metal Sonic was at.

"Was there anything out of the ordinary?" Metal Sonic asked Grounder.

"Nope, not a single thing." Grounder replied.

"Soon, it'll be time to go to Central City. We will smuggle ourselves in and plant a bomb in the capital building." Metallix explained. "Once we leave, we will detonate the explosive."

"Why would Metal Sonic attack the United Federation?" Tails thought. "It doesn't make sense." They noticed that Zero came forward to the steel hedgehog.

"Zero, you have the last patrol over the island." Metallix ordered. "Make sure there is absolutely no one who follows us."

"As you wish." Zero stated as he was leaving. He was heading in the direction of the party, but couldn't see them due to their concealment behind debris. "Sensors detecting movement." The robot looked around. Then, Omega charged and slammed right into him. Metallix looked up as they heard the clanging metal.

"We will have to check what is going on." Metal stated as he Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts followed the sound.

"Here they come." Sonic said.

"It's punchin' time." Knuckles added. Metal Sonic rushed forward and was met by Amy's hammer. Metallix spun dashed towards Amy but she barely blocked it with her hammer. Sonic countered his metal counterpart with his own spin dash.

Coconuts started to throw his coconut bombs toward the group. Amy knocked the bombs away with her hammer. Tails began to return fire towards the monkey.

"Oh, a wise guy, eh?" Coconuts stated to the fox. "I'll intend to bag you up and send you to the boss." Then, the monkey focused his fire onto him.

Meanwhile, Grounder dug up from underneath Knuckles and he poked him. The echidna leapt into the air.

"Oww." Knuckles stated.

"Herher, got you in the butt." Grounder said.

"How about I take that drill and shove it?" Knuckles barked angerly at him. Grounder dug back into the ground and the echidna pursued him. There was some banging from down below. The robot was knocked back up to the surface and Knuckles came to the dazzed robot. He ripped off the nose drill when Grounder tried to run away, the echidna tackled him. "HEAVE HO!"

The echidna rammed the drill he tore off right up Grounder's rear-end.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!" Grounder shouted before shutting off.

"Fatality." Knuckles responded in a deep voice like a narrator from a fighter game. "By butt plug." Scratch was duking it out against Amy Rose with this razor feathers. Amy blocked the attacks with her hammer. Both of them exchanging blows.

Sonic and Metal Sonic continued to spindash and counter-spindash. They arrived into a deadlock.

"I'm going to stop you, Metallix." Sonic answered.

"In the end, that will just be a fantasy, hedgehog." Metallix replied.

"I just noticed that your voice different." The hedgehog stated.

"Exactly for I am reborn." The metallic adversary rebuked. "And I will enjoy everything you fought for back then, will be burned to nothing. I will take enjoyment out of your suffering." Sonic leapt back to get into a better position.

"You don't even have the power to do that." The blue blur rebuked. "All you have is your five man band."

"Things aren't what they appear, Sonic." Metallix replied. "In one week's time, I will storm the Mobius Archipelago and rave every city to the ground."

"If… you can." Sonic snapped back not taking Metallix's threat seriously.

Omega slashed towards Zero and his adversary. They both fired their rockets out towards each other. Some of them hit, others didn't. Omega and Zero then rushed forward rocket thrusters in full blast. They both passed each other and stopped. After a few seconds, Zero sparked frantically and exploded.

"Gamma, you may know rest." Omega stated. Then, the big robot turned to aid the rest of Team Sonic.

"Robots, fall back for now." Metallix shouted. "Don't worry about them."

"What about the bomb?" Coconuts asked.

"Leave it." The metallic foe replied. The four remaining robots retreated. Team Sonic was left and there was silence for a bit. They returned to Mobius Corners to rest up and reward themselves with milkshakes introducing one to the big Omega. But as they left the Ocean Palace, Metallix looked back at them.

"Go ahead and enjoy your victory while you can." Metal Sonic stated. "You can remain ignorant for now. Because the next time we meet, you shall fail and you shall fall."


	11. Deception Revealed

Deception Revealed

Soleanna was in a quiet state of peace for the time being. But a roar was heard in the background as a metallic dragon was in the suburbs. Eggman was in his floating egg car with a helicopter propeller.

"Now, my metallic friend, go find Sonic and bring him back to me." Eggman said to the dragon. "Don't come back until you do." The dragon roared. Then, Team Sonic arrived with the blue blur in the front of the pack. "Oh goody, the hedgehog came to me instead."

"I see you've shown your hard-boiled self again, Eggman." The hedgehog said to him.

"Stop with the egg-based puns." The doctor said.

"Man, you need to go over-easy." Sonic replied. Ivo just growled at him.

"Well, you are going to deal with my dragon." Eggman stated.

"I'm surprised you managed to build such a beast by yourself." Knuckles answered.

"I didn't say I built it." Ivo stated. "It's a robotisized dragon." The team gasped.

"How did you get that robotisizer working again!?" Sonic shouted.

"I didn't. This is just one of the leftovers." Eggman answered.

"That's stupid, Eggman. I can just de-robotisize it." Sonic answered confidently. He ran up to the dragon and spindashed it. He bounced off it with a clang. The hedgehog bounced off in confusion as it didn't return to flesh and blood. The robot twitched.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. I modified them." The scientist said. "Look what happens now if you try your stunt." The robot roared as though in pain. From where Sonic hit the robotisized dragon, rust spread rapidly consuming the entire creature. Then, it crumbled to dust. "As you can see Sonic, your little de-robotization technique can't restore these ones. I'm the only one with the cure for it and it's in my base in the Dragon Kingdoms." Eggman floated away.  
"Damn it." Sonic answered sadly putting his hand on his head. "Why did this happen?"

"We didn't know, Sonic." Amy came up to him. "All we can do now is tell what happened."

"I feel responsible, Sal." Sonic stated. "That's why I have to go to the Dragon Kingdoms by myself."

"Sonic, it is too dangerous to go by yourself." The princess replied.

"I have to go." The blue blur replied.

"But can't you take someone to go with you?"

"Who can take me to the Dragon Kingdom?" Then, Dulcy showed up.

"I can do that." Dulcy answered.

"Dulcy, we haven't seen you in a while." The princess said. "What's going on with you?"

"Oh, it's nothing." The dragon replied, sweating.

"Are you all right, you're sweating."

"I'm perfectly fine. Don't worry about me."

"Well, alright." Sally said in concern. "If you are having any issues, just talk to me."

"Okay." Dulcy answered. As the two headed out of the villa and towards the dragon kingdoms, the dragon's heart sank as he told her on what had happened recently. As Dulcy and Sonic travelled, it was a silent trip. Sonic wanted to ask her what was wrong but didn't want to bother her.

The two eventually arrived at the Dragon Kingdoms. The area still had the metallic spires of Robotnik still standing and functioning. He saw that the soil was completely barren and it was impossible for anything to grow. Any trees that were in the kingdom were dead. The water wasn't drinkable and the air was difficult to breath due to the fog.

"Man, I didn't think that we missed any locations." Sonic replied; he coughed. "Is this what the world would have looked like if Julian won? A lifeless sphere with lifeless machines and ruins of what used to be?"

They didn't say a word as they continued. They saw an old wyrm lying on the ground not moving, for it had starved. The two occasionally would find dead dragons.

"Am I really the only survivor?" Dulcy asked in shock.

"Dulcy, hide." Sonic stated. He got himself and Dulcy over to the side. Two robotisized dragons came by and they had to pick up two of the bodies and fly off with them.

 _"Either the dragons were robotisized or died."_ Sonic thought as they continued walking when the coast was clear. _"Looks like when we do free the dragons, we'll have to find a new home for them."_ They came across a platform. _"I haven't been this stealthy in a long time."_ Dulcy just stood behind and tears started to roll down her face. Sonic turned around noticing the sad expression on her face.

"Dulcy, what's wrong?" Sonic asked.

"I'm deeply sorry, Sonic the Hedgehog." Dulcy said.

"What you mean?"

"I have no other choice." Dulcy pulled a switch and the platform opened up from underneath.

"AHHHH!" Sonic yelled as he fell down into the pit below. The dragon flipped the switch again and fell to her knees crying.

"So, you finally done what was asked of you." A voice stated from behind her. She looked around and saw Shadow standing behind her. "I didn't actually think that you would stab your friends in the back like you did."

"I just don't know what will happen to him." Dulcy replied to him.

"That is uncertain for now." Shadow answered. "Eggman wanted you to lure him here to be captured and you had done your task. I hope there is a damn good reason for doing those actions." He turned around. "But there is no thing as justified treachery. I've seen it multiple times in my mercenary career. The only one that I can truly trust as of now is Rouge. Why do you think I made her my partner?"

Sonic landed at the bottom of the pit with a bond. He got up to look around but it was dark. He couldn't see a thing.

"Ow. What was that for?" Sonic asked. "And where am I?" He heard the sounds of revving gears. Then, the lights came on and there were four pillars around him. A pulse came from them trapping him in the center of the circle. He struggled to get out. Then, he heard some laughter. "Eggman."

"You are correct, Sonic." Eggman replied. "I have you now in my grasp and even though you escaped many times before, not even you can escape me now." The doctor put thunder cuffs onto Sonic's ankles and wrists. "Thanks to your dragon friend, you are now my prisoner."

"What!? Dulcy had lead me here to be captured by you!?" Sonic asked in total shock.

"It was quite the feat to convince her to become a member of Team Dark." Ivo answered.

"I just don't believe it." Sonic replied with a sigh. Eggman turned around. "Bounta-kun?" Then, the dark chao came forward.

"Yes, Eggman-sama?" the chao asked.

"Make a TV message and send it to Princess Sally." Eggman replied. "Tell everything that has happened her; rub Dulcy's name into the mud, so she may never be able to show her face again on the entire island."

"Hai, hai." The chao answered flying off. The doctor turned back to the hedgehog still struggling to escape. Eggman pushed a button on a remote control he had. Sonic was zapped with electricity.

"You outdid yourself, Snively. You have come close to the malevolence of Julian." Sonic commented.

"Now, I will test an earlier scheme I had for world domination." Ivo said as a television popped out. "I will soon start broadcasting my own television show with hypnotic subliminal messages telling mobians and people alike to obey Eggman."

"You do realize that there are a number of TV networks that already do that." Sonic answered.

"Shut up." Ivo replied. "And if I see you not watching the television show." He pushed the button again, sending more volts throughout Sonic. The hedgehog yelled in pain. "Now, enjoy the show." The doctor pushed the play button.

The show was extremely sugary coated and filled with glitter and rainbow. Sonic began to cringe at the sight of the TV show that tasted of diabetes.

"NOO! OH GOD NOO!" Sonic stated; he tried to close his eyes. And the doctor zapped him a third time.

Sometime later, the rest of Team Sonic arrived. They were sent by Sally out of worry about Sonic and Dulcy not answering their communicators. The Sky Patrol landed on the shoreline of the Dragon Kingdom. As the door opened, the stench from the polluted air came in.

"Ugh, nasty." Amy stated covering her nose.

"I heard that the Dragon Kingdom was now bad." Tails replied. "But I didn't think it would get this bad." At that moment, Eggman's security cameras picked up their presence. The alarms went off.

"Looks like we've been found." Bunny said.

"It'll be time for a fight." Knuckles stated as he ran out of the door. He noticed the Egg Pawns coming out to face them. The four headed out to engage them.

Meanwhile, inside the interrogation chamber, Sonic was stuck in the chair. Eggman was still surprised at the results.

"I don't understand." Eggman stated. "How come my subliminal messages aren't working?" He paused. "Whatever." He turned to the nearby robots. "Robots, throw the hedgehog into the dungeon." The egg pawns came back and took Sonic away. As they placed him in the prison cell, Shadow came around and dismissed them.

"So, my nemesis for the throne." Shadow said. "Here you are, standing right in front of me in a jail cell."

"It seems like you to say that." Sonic replied.

"I wanted to beat you myself." Shadow answered. "But again, Eggman would rather test a cobbled together excuse for a show instead of granting my wish to fight you."

"So, you are going to brag about it."

"No, I'm not, moron." Shadow rebuked. "I'm not going to help you out of this one. There will be nothing that will be known." He turned around. "It's isn't like Dulcy's mother is held hostage, robotisized, to blackmail her."

"What was that?"

"I have said nothing." Shadow walked off; then, he walked off.

Sonic sat in the cell as he got a very good look at his cell. It was a stone lined and there was a chandelier and the gate to his cell connected by a chain.

"Something that doesn't have anything to do with computers?" Sonic asked. "That's actually a surprise." He fiddled with the thunder cuffs to see if he can take them off, and he got zapped. "Ugh, well that's not going to work."

He noticed that there were two egg pawns standing at guard of the cell. Then, he and the robots heard a thud. The first robot looked and went around the corner to see what was at the other end. There was a smashing sound. The other robot ran to see what happened. There was another smashing sound. Sonic started to back off nervously until he saw it was Amy.

"Amy." Sonic stated. Then, the pink hedgehog saw him.

"Sonic, there you are." She replied.

"Is there any way you can get me out of here?" Sonic asked.

"I don't see any modules or any locks." Amy answered. "It's almost like a wall of bars." But she noticed a weight on a chain as part of a pulley system nearby. "Maybe…" She went over to it and put her hammer on it. She turned and saw the chandelier go up a little as well as the wall. "A-HA! We need to put on weight to lift the door." She dragged one of the robots and plopped it on. The chandelier rose as well as the wall. Sonic rushed spin dashing towards the exit. The chain broke but the blue blur managed to get through before it came down.

"Thanks, Ames." Sonic answered. "I would hug you. But with these cuffs on, I don't want to electrocute you."

"Alright." Amy said. "We should get that cure for the modification of the robotisizing."

"Of course." The two went upwards. They made it back up to the main lair with the alarm going off for the prisoner's escape. More egg pawns came by and began to fire at them. Sonic spindashed into them smashing them. There was another robot with a lance; he got behind it and pounced onto it. He tried to escape from the cuffs. He got shocked but completely fried the robot's interior circuitry.

They arrived at the main computer terminal. They saw on the monitor were visuals of a very large fleet of Eggman's vessels close to completion.

"Whoa, I guess Eggman had more than just bad TV programs in mind." Sonic stated.

"We need to report this to Sally at once." Amy replied. They looked and saw a variety of CDs with labels on them.

"Our evil scientist who is a technical expert using robots uses CDs? I thought he would use a flash-drive for such secret information."

"I think it's more on the lines of preference." They spotted one labelled with 'modifications for robotization'. "This is it." Amy picked up the compact disc. "Let's go and get out of here." They met back up with the rest of the party and escaped from the Dragon Kingdom.

Sally was with Team Sonic; they were in the main console room. It was very quiet when Amy handed her the CD.

"I know what was happened." Sally answered. "The sooner we can free Dulcy's mom, the better. But for now, she is one of the enemies we have to face." She put the CD into the drive. "At least with the information on this disc, we can get a head-start and get the jump on Eggman." She turned to the system. "Nicole, run the programs in the disc."

"Running, Sally." She responded. When she scanned program, a video came up. Nicole played the video. They heard music in the background. They heard Eggman's voice.

"Get a load of this." He stated. Then, a video of Eggman wearing nothing but a pink speedo dancing showed up. The group was shocked and horrified.

"AHH! MY EYES!" Knuckles stated.

"Nicole, close the program." The princess stated.

"Closing… closing…" Nicole responded. "Closing… "

"What?"

"Error."

"Come Nicole."

"^_^ Warning: Fatal Error… ^_^ System Malfunction… ^_^" Sally went to manually close the file. But when she deleted the file, copies of the video appeared and it rapidly produced more and more copies. When enough copies were produced, she commented again. . "HAHAHA!vpc. Shutting " The monitor shut itself off.

"Nicole… please come back on." Sally stated as she tried to turn the unit back on. The team was shocked when nothing but a text box came up with the Eggman's face on it. Then a message appeared in the textbox and it read:

"Dear Sonic, I had anticipated your escape from the cell. Thus I had replaced the disc containing the cure with a decoy containing an .exe file on it. I hope you enjoyed the computer destroying virus I made. Sincerely, your friendly neighborhood Dr. Ivo Robotnik. " Then, another text box showed up to replace the first one before permanently shutting down. ":D You've been trolled. You've been trolled. Have a nice day. :D"


	12. In a Blaze Of Trouble: Pt 1

In A Blaze of Trouble: Pt 1

It had been some time since the incident with the hyena biker gang and Team Sonic was finally getting around to cleaning up the mess that they had left behind on the surface of Knothole Village. But it was during their cleaning up of the place that Tails happened to drop a particularly shocking piece of information that he had heard from Princess Sally.

"Cats? You mean, we are going to help cats?" Sonic asked eye twitching in disbelief. "And not just one a whole freaking kingdom of them."

"Sonic, they really need our help." Tails protested. "The cats of Down Unda have asked us to send representatives to speak on their behalf in a conflict with another tribe."

"The poor little kitties need our help, so they don't get ripped to pieces by those big old mean dogs." Bunny added. "We can't just ignore a request for help."

"Excuse me, these are cats we're talking about here. And in case you haven't noticed Bunny, the four of us are prey of choice."

"Hey, I'm not a prey of choice." Knuckles replied. "I'm a monotreme, whatever that means."

"Go lay an egg." Sonic answered. "You're still cat food if they get their claws on you."

"Um, normally I'm not one to panic but Sonic may have a point this time." Amy replied nervously. "Why don't we just let Tails go and handle this?"

"I'm going to be busy talking with the canine side of things, Amy." Tails answered stepping into the room wearing a headdress full of feather "and I'm bringing the perfect ambassador to a tribe of dogs."

"Hello, my friends. It's good to see all of you again." The tall and regal form of a wolf maiden appeared. "I've been asked to speak to the wild dog tribe on the cat's behalf."

"So wait, we don't even get to take Tails with us to keep them at bay?" Sonic groaned putting his hand to his forehead. "What we really need is a cat who knows the lay of the land and speaks their lingo." Suddenly, a frog came hopping through the brush into the open field they were standing in. They heard the sound of loud footsteps coming towards them as the ground began to shake.

"Whoa, what's happening? Is this an earthquake?" Knuckles asked in confusion. "Or did somebody install a vibrator in the ground?"

"There you are, Fwoggy." A large purple cat said barreling in and chasing the frog. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Ah, Big. What are you doing here?" Sonic asked in confusion. "How the heck did you get here from the city?"

"I followed Fwoggy onto the magical flying Frisbee with wings." He replied pointing towards the Sky Patrol. "Then, if floated into the sky and took me and Fwoggy with it."

"Well it looks like we got our ambassador to the cat folk." Knuckles said with a smile, patting Big on the shoulder.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Oh, we're going to the Big Cat Country." Amy told him. "We need you to help speak on our behalf."

"Wait, you want me to go home?" Big answered, raising his hands and shaking his head. "But they are really mean, they sent me away because they said I was an imbec-imbec- because I was dumb."

"Don't worry, Big. I don't think you're dumb." Knuckles answered putting his arm around him. "In fact, you are one of the smartest cats I ever met. In fact, I bet you still have all nine of your lives."

"Gee, this place is still a big mess." Amy told the others looking around. "Why don't the four of you go and help the cats out while Bunny and I stay here and clean this mess up?"

"Sounds good to me." Tails replied motioning towards the Sky Patrol. "Come on, everyone. Let's head for Down Unda."

As the Sky Patrol was headed away from West Side, a figure seated at a desk watched them leave on a monitor.

"Damn, that blue spike ball is going to mess up one of my plans again." A blue fist slammed down onto the desk. "The only thing I hate worse than a business deal going sour is getting a run in my fish nets." Looking up from her monitor, she barked out an order. "Miss Possum, get in here on the double." Breezy commanded. "I need you to send word to Fang the sniper and his goons about dealing with a group of meddling heroes."

"Oh that is not good." Her secretary sighed, shaking her head. "You know how much extra that wacky weasel charges for dealing with meddling heroes."

"At least, we don't have to pay a triple fee for dealing with a meddling dog too." Breezy said with a sigh thinking of her ever-shrinking checking account. "Tell Fang to have an extra special surprise waiting for Sonic and his friends."

As the Sky Patrol sped over the dry deserts and mesas of Down Unda, Sonic looked out the window in wonderment.

"Wow, this island looks so dry." Sonic exclaimed. "How can anyone or anything live here?"

"Oh they manage to, Sonic. Some mobian tribes are just stronger than others." Knuckles boasted slapping his hand against his chest. "My people first came from these lands before we migrated to Angel Island."

While Sonic, Knuckles, and Big were on the Sky Patrol's bridge, Tails and Lupe were getting on board the tornado and flying out the carrier's open hanger.

"Good luck you two, and see if you can talk some sense into those dumb dogs." Sonic added shaking his head.

"Boy, I really wish we were going with them instead of talking to the hairball spitters." Knuckles commented.

"Don't worry, my people don't spit hairballs." Big declared scratching under his chin. "We just cough 'em up."

"Gee, that's sure helpful to know." Knuckles replied rolling his eyes. "I'll be sure to remember the difference while being grossed out."

As the Tornado pulled off and headed west, the Sky Patrol veered northward flying towards the Northern tip of the island.

"I'm going to try to set us down near Mt. Warning." Sonic declared pulling back on the stick. "It shouldn't be too much trouble to find a smooth landing spot there."

"Are you sure how to land this thing, Sonic?" Knuckles asked skeptically. "I mean, heck, do you even know how to fly it?"

"Relax, Knucklehead. I've seen Tails and Amy land it enough time to know how to do it." Sonic replied moving the stick around like if he was playing a videogame. "Besides, out of the three of us, I think I'm the one most likely not to crash. Easy as pie."

"Hahaha, I like pie." Big responded. Suddenly, Sonic pulled way back on the control stick and the carrier went into a massive dive.

"THAT'S NOT HOW YOU ARE TO LAND IT!" Knuckles shouted grabbing a hold of the stick. "Here let me show you how to get it to the ground."

"Get your hands off, Knucklehead!" Sonic shouted back as the two fought over the controls. Finally, both yanked on the stick into separate directions at once and it came loose and broke off from the console. The two mobians looked at each other before looking back out the window.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" The two of them shouted putting their hands against the glass.

"Bye-bye Fwoggy, we'll go fishing in heaven." Big stated. They crash into the large trees getting caught in the vines.

"I don't believe it. We're alive." Sonic declared pushing the hatch open and looking around at the surrounding jungle. "I can't believe you managed to not kill us with that stupid move."

"Me!? You're the one who pulled on the stick too hard." Knuckles complained yelling back angrily. "I can't believe you thought you could this thing on your own."

"I can't believe Tails let me land this thing on my own." Sonic replied.

"Are we there yet? I think Fwoggy's got to go." Big said. Sonic jumped out of the open hatch and hopped from tree to tree down to the ground.

"The coast looks clear down here guys." Sonic yelled back up to the crashed carrier. "You both can come on down now."

"Cannonball." Knuckles yelled jumping out of the plane and gliding down to the surface. "Boy, Sonic you wish you could get down like that."

"Eh, I prefer to jump my way through things rather than rely on fancy falling." Sonic answered scratching his nose. "Say, how do you think Big is going to come down."

"WEEEEEE!" Big stated. He came down with a bond. "Huh, where did you two go?"

"Oww…" Sonic and Knuckles groaned in unison. Getting up, Big noticed his two flattened friend laying there in a heap. Pulling themselves back to their feet, the two mobians looked around at their surroundings. Noticing that there was nothing but jungle for miles around, the trio tried to figure out what to do next.

"Say anybody know where we can find a payphone?" Knuckles asked.

"Like OhMyGawd, what was that crash I like totally heard over here?" a feminine voice called out from the nearby eylcaptaus trees. "It like so totally sounds like a stampede of shoppers at the mall. Krickey for sure." Suddenly, a bucksome koala mobian in a cleavage showing unitard and red boots came out running a file across her claws as if disinterested. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe two hunks and a fatso so totally dropped out of the sky."

"Uh, who are you?" Sonic asked raising an eyebrow.

"My name's like Barbie Koala." She replied extending a hand to the confused trio. "And I'm like so totally the leader of the Down Unda Freedom Fighters."

"Really? There's a group here in Down Unda?" Sonic asked taking her hand and shaking it. "How many of there are you? How long have you been fighting the Robotniks?"

"Well, there's like me, and there's like me." She replied tapping her finger on her chin as she thought. "And I so totally like never fought against badniks or anything, but I did like write a protest song against Robotnik's evil rule. Really awesome huh."

"Oh, that's great." Knuckles replied, shaking his head. "It's so good to know the Down Unda Freedom Fighters are doing their part against evil."

"'Cuse me pretty lady." Big asked walking right up to here. "Could you show us where the kitty cats live?"

"Ohmygosh, you mean the Big Cat Tribe? Like I can show totally take you to their village." Barbie replied putting one arm around Big and the other around Knuckles. "You two hunks can come with me." She looked back at Sonic narrowing her eyes. "You can come too, fatty."

"I… wait… what!?" Sonic asked in disbelief, his jaw hanging open.

"Oh don't worry, I so totally don't mind being seen with an ugly dude like you. But just try to walk behind the three of us when we go into the village. Oh and pretend you don't know me."

"I don't know you anyway." Sonic replied angrily following behind them.

"So, what's nice little koala like you doing out in a dangerous place like this?" Knuckles asked, with a smile on his face.

"You're concerned for my safety? That's so totally nice of you." Barbie replied. "Well, I like come out here because it's got the best leaves I'm kinda a gourmet, you know? Anyway, I so totally hate all the noise and pollution in the city. So, I like came out here to live totally next to nature and stuff."

"Oh, she smart lady." Big declared. "She speaks with big words."

"You are such a flatterer." Barbie replied giving the fat cat a peck on the cheek. "You like so much nicer than that fatty back there."

"I CAN RUN FASTER THAN HE CAN!" Sonic yelled zipping around the trio three times. Then, he stopped. "See I told you."

"Uh, Sonic. I think you're sinking." Knuckles told him.

"AHHH!" The blue hedgehog yelled in a panic starting to flail about. "This stuff is worse than water. Somebody get me out of here."

"We like so totally got to get that poor blue fatty out of there." Barbie exclaimed, looking up at Big pleadingly. "You like have any ideas?"

"Big help." The giant cat walked over to a deeply rooted jungle tree as thick around as he was. Grabbing it with both hands, he ripped the entire tree out of the ground, roots and all; he held it out over the quicksand. "Go out and help him, red guy."

"I'm on it, Big guy." Knuckles stated running out the trunk and reaching for Sonic's hand from the branches. "Here fatty, grab my hand and us hunks will help you out."

"I AM NOT FAT!" Sonic barked out, reaching for the hand above him.

As the hero slowly slipped down into the quicksand, a pair of shifty eyes watched him through a set of binoculars.

"Well, looks like the hedgehog made it to the outback." A familiar weasel grinned. "Guess we'll have to roll out the welcome mat."

"Wow, he made it to the Outback?" Bark asked. "Shouldn't we be polite and get him a steak or something?"

"Never mind, yous nitwit." Nac yelled punching him in the gut without actually doing anything. "I wish you'd keep you stupidity to yourself."

"Haha, the big dumb bear's an idiot." Bean declared laughing manically as he tossed a dynamite stick up in the air over and over again. "Help, Bark's talking and he can't shut up."

"Would both of yous be quiet? I think this might be our big chance a gettin' rid of the hedgehog once and for all." Nac turned back to Bean. "Hey birdbrain, gimme one of your boomsticks."

"Here you go, boss. One big packed up tube of gunpowdery goodness." Bean handed him a stick. "Really tasty to chew on but the bang is murder on your teeth."

"Well then, we're gonna make sure those goody-goods don't interfere with Miss Breezy's plans." The weasel stated. Nac reached into his holster and pulled out a large gun-like weapon. Loading the dynamite stick into the barrel, he cocked the weapon and took aim at the four mobians struggling with the quicksand. But Nac looked at his weapon, he began to hear a voice whispering in his head.

"Boy, you can miss this shot, Nakky-boy." The voice told him jeering. "If you can pull this one off, Miss Breezy is sure to reward you very nicely."

"I-I… I don't know Fang." Nac said hesitantly. The gun starting to shake in his hands. "I'm not really sure if I like the idea of taking 'em out like this. Not giving them a sporting chance."

"Oh come on, Nakky-boy." The gun replied. "You're made of stronger stuff than that."

"Nac, what are you doing?" Bark asked nervously. "Are you talking to your gun again? The nice doctor on West Side Island already talked to you about this."

"Ah, don't make fun of him so much, Fang." Bean told the gun.

"Am I the only one in Hooligan that isn't crazy?" Bark asked himself. Nac stood there his hand shaking uncertain whether he should follow the instructions of an inanimate object. Meanwhile, Knuckles managed to pull Sonic out of the quicksand and the two scurried up the tree trunk. After the two made it back to solid ground. Big, then, chucked the log away and was sent flying towards where the three Team Hooligan members stood.

"Oh no, Nac look out." Bean squeaked. "Incoming tree, extra large." The tree impacted with the nervous weasel with a gun full of dynamite. KAAA-BOOOOOOOOOMMM! The three outlaws were sent flying.

"I'm so sorry, Fang!" Nac wailed.

"You're a bum, kid." The gun rasped out as they flew out of sight. "A real bum."

"Did you guys hear something?" Sonic asked looking around. "I could have sworn I heard a bolt of thunder."

"It's was like just your imagination." Barbie declared, shaking her head at the silly hedgehog. "Now, why don't I so totally take you to the cat tribe's village." The four mobians made their way deeper and deeper into the jungle.

The path narrowed into a single road with branches camouflaging the way. Sniffing at the ground, Barbie was able to direct them towards several huts hidden deep in the foliage.

"So, what are these cat folk like?" Knuckles asked curious. "Are they friendly?"

"Oh, they like rant and rave about honor and stuff a lot but they are really nice once you get to know them." Barbie rolled her eyes. "They like really have a bad habit of talking too much especially the dudes. Those guys won't even shut up in bed."

"Wow, you watched them while they sleep?" Knuckles asked in awe. "Are you a ninja?" The koala's face turned a deep shade of red.

"Knuckles, you are so wonderfully naïve at times." Sonic answered stifling a laugh. It was at that point that all three of the boys felt a stinging pain in their necks and got really really sleepy. As the three of them toppled over, they heard an angry koala's voice cry out.

"Darn it, why do you always have to jump the gun? These guys are friends." She yelled at them and the area went black.


	13. In a Blaze Of Trouble: Pt 2

In A Blaze of Trouble: Pt 2

"Hey Fatty, are you awake yet?" Sonic heard a ditsy voice calling out from the edge of his mind. "Like wake up, fatty. You've been out for 20 minutes." Upon opening his eyes, a light and flashy blur filled his vision. He smelled the distinct odor of something cooking nearby and felt himself secured snugly in a warm blanket.

Thinking he was resting for a moment, Sonic was completely caught by surprise when he felt himself being turned over and over in circles. Suddenly, his sense of dread began to rise when he tasted an apple in his mouth. As his vision cleared, he saw a cat in tribal war paint standing over him holding what look liked a turkey baster with honey sauce.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Sonic screamed jumping out of the blanket roll as the apple fell out. "You're not turning me into a main course."

"Like what is your problem, man." Barbie asked crossing her arms and staring at him in disgust. "We were just like…"

"WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS!?" Sonic demanded raising his fist in anger. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THEM!?"

"The cat tribe is like so totally having them for dinner, just outside this tent." Barbie shook her head. "Why are you being so…"

"HANG ON, KNUCKLEHEAD. I'M COMIN'." Sonic zipped out of the tent flap. "I THINK THEY'LL EAT THE BIG LUMMOX FIRST." Then, thinking for a minute. "NEVER MIND, THAT." The hero arrived in the center of the village only to find Knuckles and Big happily munching away on a plate of chili dogs set before them.

"Sonic, ol' buddy. Good to see you." Knuckles greeted him standing up as his friend approached. "How was that medicinal treatment the cat shaman was giving you with the honey?"

"Uh… it was great." Sonic replied trying to cover his embarrassment as best as he could. "So, this is the cat tribe, huh? Nice to finally meet all you hairballs. Sorry if I didn't bring a ball of yarn."

"Cat humor, how typical." A voice called out from within the crowd. Sonic looked around and noticed many of the feline warriors with painted tribal markings all over their bodies and carrying bamboo spears with stone tips. From the center of the group stepped out a beautiful lavender-colored cat with a feathered headdress and a fur trimmed jacket and pants. "Greetings, mobian ambassador, I am Regina Blazeetta Felis XIV. But you can call me, Blaze the Cat."

"AHH, so you are the hotheaded princess that mom told me visited the South Island a few years back." Sonic replied with a smirk on his face as he went to shake her hand. "Looks like you were just as much of an ironing board as Manic said you were." The instant Sonic took her hand, he felt a burning sensation coming through his glove as it caught on fire. "AAIEEEEE!" He yelled throwing his glove off as it turned into cinders. "Hot hot hot hot hot!" He dipped his hand into the nearby stream.

"It is unwise to insult the queen of the cat folk when she commanded the power of fire." Blaze told him icily. "It is also unwise to bring up that uncouth pig of a hedgehog Romeo who enjoys breaking young princess's hearts. Besides, he's a lousy kisser and he snores too much."

"Wow, and you're a very hot-tempered lady like Sonia said." Sonic added. "So, I guess you know why we're here."

"I'm quite well aware of why you have journeyed to our lands, Prince Sonic. But I must unfortunately tell you that you and your friends are not welcome here."

"Now, wait a second," Sonic stated running up to her and putting his hand on her shoulder. "We just want to help you avoid a war with the wild dog tribe. Why won't you…?" He felt a burning warmth coming through the shoulder of her jacket as it he put his hand on a heated stove. "Ow."

"You're the last person I want any sort of aid or assistance from, Sonic Hedgehog." Blaze growled as several of her guards pointed spears at his throat. "And if it weren't the diplomatic problems and possible wars it would cause, I would have you tied to a stone alter and sacrificed here and now."

"Ouch, what a grouchy lady." Knuckles whispered to Big. "Hey buddy, you think you could say something to her that would calm the mean kitty down?"

"Excuse me, Miss Queen Lady." Big spoke up slapping his hands on his stomache like a drum. "Could you please be a nice kitty and let my fwiend go?"

"YOU!" She turned in anger as she recognized Big's voice. "THE EXILE, COLLOSSUS ROADS, THE FISHERMAN WHO CAUGHT THAT PUFFERFISH THAT WAS ACCIDENTLY SERVED TO ME." Blaze's body burned in anger at seeing the overweight tabby once more. "IT MADE ME SICK TO MY STOMACH AND PUKING MY GUTS OUT FOR THREE WEEKS FROM THE POISON!"

"But I just caught you a nice fishy." The confused Big added. "Why are you so mad at me?"

"GUARDS! REMOVE THIS INSULTING HEDGEHOG AND HIS DIGUSTING COMPANIONS FROM MY PRESENCE AT ONCE!" She shouted. The guards began to close in on the trio.

"That does it." Sonic declared cracking his fists. "I feel the need for speed, keed." Jumping into high gear, Sonic raced around and around in circles tripping up and confusing the guards with a blue blur and forcing them back.

"Wait, what's going on here?" Knuckles asked, noticing his friend fighting off the feline guards. He suddenly jumped into the fray. "Hang on, Sonic. I'm coming." The echidna declared jumping in and boxing several of the felines knocking them down. "Taste my fury." He headbutted several of the guards knocking them out.

"ENOUGH! I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO HARM MY SUBJECTS!" Blaze screeched her hands burning with the fires of her rage. "I WILL BURN YOU ALL TO A CRISP FOR YOUR ISOLANCE!" The flames roared from her hands as she shot a pure jet stream of red and blue fire at the two unsuspecting heroes; the blazing comet slammed them back into the dirt painfully scorching their quills, dreads, and fur.

"No, not into the pit." Sonic stated, mentioning the Mobian equivalent to Hades.

"It burns." Knuckles added.

"Mean cat lady hurt Big's friends." The overweight feline declared launching himself into the air. "Big mush you now." Blaze was so caught up in burning her two victims that she never saw the two tons of rolling flab coming down upon her.

"Huh?" the unsuspecting cat turned when she saw a massive shadow eclipsing her body. Her eyes going wide as the terrible tabby came smashing down on top.

"Hoho." Big stated with a squish. Suddenly, there was silence as everyone walked up towards the two felines. Blaze's motionless legs were sticking out from underneath Big's gut.

"You killed her." One of the cat guards declared. As Knuckles walked over and pulled her shoes off.

"Wow, I bet Bunny would love these ruby slippers." He stated as Blaze's feet curled up and rolled underneath the tabby's stomach.

"Ding Dong, the witch is dead." The cats sang as Blaze slowly pushed her way out from beneath the giant blob.

"I'm still alive, you idiots." She sighed. "Oh, what's the use? My own subjects despise me. So, why should I even bother?"

"Well, maybe if you weren't so short-tempered and mean to everybody, they won't hate you so much." Sonic stated as the rest of the cat tribe cowered in fear at their queen's unexpected survival.

"Like why don't you tell us what's going on so we can totally help your subjects out?" Barbie asked her.

"Well since you insist," Blaze declared with a sigh dusting her clothes off. "I might as well tell you." She motioned for a bunch of her guards to wait outside of her audience hut and held the flap open for Sonic and the others to go inside. After they had all been seated, Blaze began to explain her peoples plight.

"In the Rainforests of Down Unda, there are a set of seven stones that are sacred to our people and the wild dogs." Blaze explained reclining on her wicker throne. "These stones called the Sol Emeralds are believed to be the great source of power for the thermonuclear fires of Mobius's sun. By tradition, the chiefs of both tribes are imbued with the gems' great power; the leader of the cat tribe holds the power of the sun's scorching heat and flames, while the leader of the dog tribe harnesses the dark and shadowy powers of the sun spots."

"So, that's where your flame powers come from." Knuckles replied.

"Yes, that's correct." Blaze continued. "During the warm months of the summer, the stones spend their time here in the North where their heat has no effect. Then, in the winter months, the stones spend their time with the dog tribe on the cold plains of the south bringing them heat and warmth during the chilliest time of year. But during the ceremonial transport of the stones back to our lands, the jewels along with their guards mysteriously vanished. We don't know what happened to them and the dogs are accusing us for theft."

"So, Princess Sally sent us here to prevent a war between your tribe and the wild dogs." Sonic replied, realizing the scope of what was at stake here.

"If we don't get those stones back, Mobius could be frozen in an eternal winter from which it will never recover."

Meanwhile outside of the hut, Big was speaking with Barbie who seemed very impressed with the larger than life cat.

"Wow, like I can't believe how you totally rocked back there." The starry eyed koala told him, hanging on to his arm. "Nobody has ever stopped Queen Blaze from frying someone to pissed her off."

"Aww, it was nothing." Big replied sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. "I'd do the same thing for any of my fwiends especially Fwoggy."

"Wait, who's like Froggy?" She asked cocking an eyebrow. "Is she like your girlfriend or something?"

"No, nothing like that. Fwoggy is my best fwiend." Suddenly, a frog with a short tail went hopping by. "There he is. Wait for me." Big suddenly went running after the fleeing amphibian with Barbie watching him go.

"Ohhh, he would make a really cool boyfriend." Barbie said thoughtfully. "Besides, my only competition is a giant hopping toad. I just hope that fuzzball doesn't give me warts."

Meanwhile back in Soleanna City, Breezy the hedgehog walked down the stairs to a large vault beneath the casino. Miss Possum was waiting there for her looking around and writing things on a clipboard.

"Status report, Olivia." Breezy asked her. "Did Nac and his team extract the artifacts?"

"Quite successfully, mam. The guards were killed cleanly and the bodies disposed of so neither tribe will be able to locate them." Miss Possum pointed up on the large table with her pen. "The items in question are ready for your inspection."

"Olivia, this is the greatest acquisition our company has ever made." Breezy exclaimed as she gazed upon the seven gemstones that floated just above the surface of the table. "Just think, we will have complete control of the planet's source of heat. Whole nations will have to pay us for the right to have enough heat to grow their crops. Countries will either have to commission us to give them heat and light or stumble around in the chilly dark forever."

"But what about all the innocent people and wildlife that will suffer and die without the sun's light and heat?" Miss Possum asked with a worried look on her face. "Thousands will freeze to death in the bitter cold and millions will starve to death from lack of food."

"Their lives are of no concern to me. Are they putting any money in my pocket?" Breezy stated coldly. "If these penniless paupers can't pay for the services that I deliver, then they had better just die and get it over with." She picked up one of the gems and gazed at it. "Remember, Olivia, it's all about the bottom line. Nothing else matters except for profit." As Breezy turned back up the stairs, Miss Possum could swear that a chill she had felt for the past few minutes in the room had gone away and she felt the heat of the Sol Emeralds once more.


	14. In a Blaze Of Trouble: Pt 3

In A Blaze of Trouble: Pt 3

"Are you sure we are going the right way, Tails?" Lupe asked looking out the Tornado's windows at the vast savannah prairie. "It doesn't look like there's any signs of habitation from up here."

"This is where the map says the wild dogs are located." Tails replied looking down at the ground far below. "I'm just surprised there hasn't been any form of welcoming party anywhere." Tails brought the plane in for a swift landing on the brown prairie. A startled group of mobini deer galloped away. "This seems very odd that they are not aware of our presence." The young fox commented. His twin tails swishing back and forth nervously. "I wonder if somebody forgot to tell them we were coming."

A high powered metal arrow whizzed past their heads embedding itself in the tree nearby. The two canines heard a faint ticking noise coming from the arrow.

"TAILS, RUN!" Lupe shouted. The two dove for cover as the tree exploded into splinters behind them.

"THE INTRUDERS SURVIVED!" A voice called out as several large mobian dogs appeared on the horizon. "TAKE THEM PRISONER SO WE MAY QUESTION THEM ON THEIR PURPOSE HERE!" The dogs came tearing at the two surprised heroes. Front claws blazing and raging fangs dripping with spittle. Lupe immediately drew her macahuitl and dove at the savages. Slashes of the jade teeth of her weapon tore through the spears and tribal armor of the canine warriors as she fought her way through the pack that surrounded them.

"TAILS, TRY NOT TO HURT THEM!" Lupe yelled while head-butting an opponent. "THEY ARE ONLY TRYING TO PROTECT THEIR HOMES!"

"SOMEONE SHOULD TELL THEM THAT!" Tails cried out dodging and avoiding shots from the dogs' spears. Two of the dogs threw a net over Tails and tried to drag him down. "HEY, GET THIS THING OFF ME!" The angry fox growled. "OKAY, THAT DOES IT!"

Spinning his twin tails rapidly, the fox lifted off into the air taking the two terrified tribesmen with him.

"THE FOX IS BEWITCHED!" One of those dogs yelped.

"HE IS FLYING WITHOUT THE AID OF MACHINES!" The other replied. Tails dove out from under the net and let the two terrified tribesmen fall back to the ground.

"THAT'S THE TRICK, TAILS! USE YOUR BRAIN OVER THEIR BRAWN!" Lupe declared kicking several of the dogs away. From the nearby bushes, one of the dogs prepared to shoot a blowgun dart filled with knockout juice when Tails suddenly popped up in front of him.

"Hi there." He stated, grabbing the blowgun and blowing the dart backwards into the surprised dog's mouth.

"Yipe." It squeaked before falling over unconscious. Seeing that their side was losing, the wild dogs took off back into the underbrush with their tails between their legs.

"Well, that was certainly a warm welcome." Lupe stated with sarcasm sliding her weapon back into her leather sheath. "I bet if we follow those retreating dogs, they'll lead us to the pack's lair. The two heroes followed the route the tribemen had taken. Lupe stooping down and sniffing out their path.

Eventually, the duo came across a cluster of huts made out of wild grasses and sod. Several dogs came out to greet the newcomers looks of suspicion and fear on their untrusting faces.

"Uh… Lupe?" Tails asked nervously, looking around. "I don't think we're going to win any popularity contests here."

"Hmm, looks like the natives are hostile." Lupe said with a smirk. "But then again, the wolf pack gets that comment many times."

One of the dogs, a handsome youth with feathers adorning his headdress, walked right up to the pair cautiously.

"Ouyay angerstray ontday ooklay endlifray. (You strangers don't look friendly.)" The tribesman stated in his strange tongue. "Areway ouyay omfray ethay atcay ibetray? (Are you with the cat tribe?)"

"Onay ayway, iresay. E'reway otnay. Ywhay ontday ouyay aketay yusyay otay ouryay eifchay, ouyay aninecay utiecay? (No way, sire. Why don't you take us to your chief, you canine cutie?)" Lupe answered. The youth seemed to blush at that and ran for the village's central hut.

"Wow, Lupe. That was incredible." Tails added his eyes going wide. "How in the world did you know how to talk to them?"

"The dog tribe and the wolf pack share a common genetic ancestor." Lupe replied swishing her tail around. "In the days before the great migrations of mobian tribes, all canines had the same language, and all – including foxes – were all one people. Our languages weren't all that different at one time." She looked over at the fox sadly. "Though our red furred brethren became civilized and joined the other races long before any of us did."

"Gee, that makes me totally not feel like a sellout here." Tails hung his head. His ears perked up, the yellow fox looked around at many of wild Down Unda dogs. "Say is it just me or do a lot of these dogs happen to remind anybody of Dingo?"

"DO NOT MENTION THE TRAITOR'S NAME HERE!" A loud voice boomed as a giant dog as large as Big came lumbering up to the duo. "He was once our tribes greatest hunter until he was banished for stealing the shaman's shaping stone and swallowing it." The mighty mountain of flesh surprised both Lupe and Tails. As the giant dog stared down at them grimly for a few moment, before suddenly bursting into laughter. "Don't worry my friends, no harm shall come to you." He declared slapping his hands on his belly. "I must apologize for my warriors so hastily attack you upon your arrival for we are in a most hostile situation with the feline tribe of the north."

"And that exactly why we are here, great chief." Lupe declared bowing politely. "Princess Sally Acorn has sent us to negotiate a peace between yourselves and the cats."

"The gesture is most appreciated, Chief Lupe. But I'm afraid bringing peace between our tribes an even more difficult task than defeating Robotnik was."

"Wait a minute…" Tails asked in shock. "How did you about Robotnik?"

"Several our canine brothers and sisters found with the freedom fighter who overthrew the robotic tyrant." He gestured towards the teenage boy who had first welcomed them into the village. "My own son, Prince Mantu, served with the Freedom Fighters of the Lost Jungle Zone."

"Robotnik was a very evil human." Mantu agreed, driving his fist into his palm for emphasis. "I've heard many great stories about your heroic adventures against his badniks, Miss Lupe."

"Mmm, flattery will get you everywhere." Lupe smiled. "But if you want old war stories, you should check with Tails here. He has seen far more direct action against Robotnik's forces."

"A-ha. So this is the famous Tails, partner of Sonic the Hedgehog." The chief answered, scooping up the lad and giving him a spine-crushing hug. "I am most pleased to meet a great warrior of your small stature."

"Thank you, sir." Tails replied, his eyes bugging out like a cartoon character. "But Sonic was actually the one did most of the work. I just helped." The big guy sent him down. "And besides, my real name isn't Tails. It's Miles Prower." At that a fox girl, who had been standing unnoticed amongst the dogs, promptly shrieked. Her eyes rolled backwards and she fainted.

"Whoa, I knew there were fangirls out there." Lupe commented cocking an eyebrow. "But I didn't think it was this bad."

"Mindy, are you alright?" the chief asked as two other worried members of the tribe went over to help her. "Are you feeling okay? Do you need to see the nurse again?"

"Prower. He said his name was Prower." Mindy muttered as she stared at Tails in shock. "Prower was my parents' last name too."

"Wait a second, you're not from the dog tribe?" Tails asked his own eyes going wide. "Please, what was the names of your parents?"

"Latour and Zoey Prower." Mindy declared looking up at Tails weakly. "The same as yours."

DUN DUN DUN!

"Mantu, I told your friend to stop playing drums at dramatic moments." The chief added before looking back to Tails. "Young Miles, this comes as a shock to... you?" But when everyone had looked back at Tails that he had fainted dead away as the revelation was too much for the two-tailed fox to take.

"Tails, what's wrong?" Lupe asked rushing up to the collapsed fox as his vision went dark. "Tails, can you hear me? Tails!?"

Tails began to come to in a splendidly decorated hut covered in woven blankets and feather ornaments. At the center of the hut, the young native girl named Mindy was tending a small fire with a cooking pot over it.

"Hey, that's not meant for me, is it?" Tails asked groggily trying to get his head to clear. "Because let me tell you I taste terrible."

"Oh… you're finely awake." Mindy smiled getting up from the cooking pot. "No, of course, that's not for you, silly. That's just my laundry." She reached into the pot with a spoon and pulled out a sock. "How are you doing, Tails?"

"Still reeling from the life-altering info you just dropped on me." Tails said crossing his arms and shaking his head.

"I know it's incredible to believe, but mom and dad really did survive and make it to these lands." Mindy stated. "They would always tell me about my big brother Miles who got left behind on West Side when Robotnik forced them to run away."

"So, does that mean mom and dad are here?" Tails asked excitedly his ears perking up. "So, does that mean I can see them now?" Mindy's ears suddenly drooped and a sad look crossed her face.

"I'm so sorry, Miles. But they both died about two months ago." She old Tails. "It was a plague that came upon our village, but if it makes you feel any better they died without any suffering."

"Oh… I see." Tails replied sadly, looking out the tent flap at the open sky. "Well, at least I know they lived a full life before they both passed on. I thought they had been killed in Julian's coup. Heck, I didn't even know you existed."

"Well, I'm here alright." Mindy told him with a laugh motioning him to come outside of the tent. "Why don't you have a look around my village while you and your wolf friend are here?"

Tails stepped outside to see the tribe active and moving about under the bright light of the sun. The children were playing out at the edge of the village. While the women boiled the meat off the bounty of last night's hunt and cleaned the hides, stretching them across large nets. The men were seated around a large fire discussing tribal business as they took turns passing around a strange looking large white bowl with a pole on it; it had smoke coming out of the top.

"Wow. Mindy, what's this thing?" Tails asked as he walked over to where the men sat seeing the boy who they considered of age approach. One of the men offered him the strange looking little bowl. Imitating what he had seen the warriors do, Tails stuck the long end into his mouth and inhaled.

"Uh, Tails… I wouldn't do that." Mindy warned. "The peace pipe is only meant for the elders." Suddenly, Tails' face turned a sickly green as he handed the pipe back to the warrior who gave it to him.

"So, the pup is not yet a man?" One of them shouted as the entire council of elders burst into laughter, while Mindy lead the dizzy fox away.

"Geez, didn't Mom ever tell you not to stick strange things in your mouth?" She asked. "I would at least find out what it was I was breathing in before I inhaled it."

While Tails was still coughing and gagging, he noticed Lupe and Mantu were walking out at the edge of the village and talking to one another.

"It's so hard to take on so much responsibility from my father." Mantu declared shaking his head. "So many in the tribe wish to embrace the ways of the modern world and I'm trying to have my tribe follow the ways of our ancestors."

"I understand where you're coming from, Mantu." Lupe replied. "Before Julian's take-over, the wolf pack was starting to modernize and if it weren't for Robotnik souring my people on technology, we would be indistinguishable from the West Siders and South Islanders by now."

"It sounds like you have done a good job in leading your tribe since Julian killed Chief Thunderfang." Mantu answered sympathetically. "I don't know what I would do if something happened to my father."

"Thunderfang was a great wolf warrior, I will never forgive Julian for taking my father away from me." Lupe scowled. "One day, Team Sonic will defeat Eggman once and for all putting an end to the Robotnik family legacy forever."

"I hope you and your tribe can find peace." Mantu told her. His lips moving close to hers. "And I hope you are able to find a peace within yourself."

"Awww." Mindy's voice called out, alerting the two that they were being spied on. "That's so romantic."

"Were you two pups watching us?" Mantu asked. "Haven't you learned not to listen in on the conversations of grown-ups?"

"Tails, I never though you stoop that low." Lupe stated in disgust. "Didn't Sonic teach you any better?"

Just then, the four canine mobians saw the chief in the center of the village talking to a sleazy looking weasel in his polyester plaid suit.

"Now, listen here, chiefy. I have a deal that you can't refuse." The slimey salesman smiled. His fake teeth glinting in the sunlight. "I'll trade you your whole entire village here for these shiny little trinket and these lovely blankets and beads."

"I'm afraid I don't see the value of your trade, Mr. Weasley." The chief replied sarcastically. "I mean those are some very lovely beads and all, but my people need our land for food, shelter, and tools."

"Ah, you just need to think about it a little chiefy." Wes Weasley replied holding a jug and pulling the stopper out. "Why not we just talk about it over a jug of firewater and I'm sure we can come to an agreement?"

"How dare you try to cloud my father's mind with that poison!" Mantu shouted, running up and getting between his father and the snake oil salesman. "You cheat us out of our home and way of life for a few dime store novelties."

"Get out of my way, brat." Wes shouted, shoving Mantu out of the way. "You're getting in the way of a business agreement." He turned back to the chief. "Now, what do you say and have a glass of…"

"You want to get someone drunk, Wesley?" Lupe saying, kicking him in the jaw and knocking him over. She caught the jug in midair. "Here, why don't we give you a taste of your own medicine?" Motioning for one of the dog tribe to bring her a funnel, she stuck it in the weasel's mouth and began to pour the firewater down the hole. Two of the other tribesman brought over a jar of ghost chili peppers and spicy refried beans, pouring them into the funnel along with the impure booze. Suddenly, the weasel's eyes lit up light an arcade machine and fire seemed to flash out of his mouth.

"WATER! I NEED WATER!" Wes yelled in a panic, running around the village in a panic.

"Here you go, mister." Mindy stated as she and Tails walked up to him with a small red jug which he quickly grabbed and down without reading it.

"Thanks, you little brats." Weasely coughed and gagged. "You aren't as bad as I thought."

"Bye-bye, Mr. Weasley." Tails replied with a smile, turning the jug around to show the words 'fire tequila' on it. Just then, Wes' eyes buldge out and his face turned red. There was a loud popping sound followed by a large puff of smoke filling the entire village. When the mist cleared, all the remained was Weasley's scorched shoes lying on the ground.

"Huh, what do you know." Tails commented, kicking one of the smoking shoes over. "Pop goes the weasel."

Far outside of town, Nac noticed his cousin running barefoot across the landscape towards the river. He stuck his head in and began to drink for several minutes without coming up for air.

"Geez Wes, you goin' to drink half that river or somethin'?" Nac asked as the other weasel gasped for breath.

"I hate that little fox." Wes replied before sticking his mouth back into the river again.


	15. In a Blaze of Trouble: Pt 4

In A Blaze of Trouble: Pt 4

"So let me get this straight." Lupe asked the chief as they all sat around the fire. "The cats are claiming that you stole the Sol Emeralds and won't return them? And your side is accusing them of the same thing?"

"It is not an accusation, Princess Lupe." The chief almost shouted, striking his fist against the arm rest of his wicker throne. "Those thieves have made off with our most sacred and holy relic; we cannot simply allow this insult to go unanswered."

"But how do we know that they took it, father?" Mantu asked standing up from his seat in the circle and smacking his fist. "There is no proof that the cats took the emeralds and I highly doubt Queen Blaze would wish to start a war."

"Your son speaks with wisdom, great chief." Lupe interjected. "Perhaps, we should try and talk to the cats before any hostility is carried out."

"Hmm… your idea rings with wisdom. I believe that my son should go and speak to their queen on our behalf and I believe you should go with him."

"Yes." Mantu exclaimed grinning at the idea. "Surely, your political experience could help work the situation out."

"Wait, I'll go with Mantu instead." Tails spoke up standing from his place on the other side of the fire. "Lupe has a whole tribe she needs to take care of and rule back home. Nobody would suffer much if something bad happened to me. I'm expendable."

"Tails, you are not expendable and I don't know how much you could actually help Mantu." Lupe replied skeptical of the fox's plan. "And who knows what those cats might do if things turn hostile."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, Lupe." The fox replied. "Sonic's over on the other side, so what could possibly go wrong?"

"I hope you're right, big brother." Mindy commented, shaking her hand sadly. "I hate to lose you after getting you back so quickly."

The next morning, the two sides met in the open lands between their territories on the hills of the Shrublands. The two sides glared at each other from across a long distance, distrust burning in the eyes of both feline and canine alike.

"Are you sure about this, Sonic?" Blaze asked as she and the hedgehog approached the meeting point. "Those dogs look rather ready and eager to devour us."

"I wouldn't worry too much about this, your highness." Sonic replied reassuringly. "My little buddy, Tails, has the whole situation over their under control." They watched as the two tailed fox and the prince of the dog tribe approached. The two sides were barely close enough to greet one another before they both bowed coldly to the other.

"Greetings, Queen Blaze." Mantu growled, barely trying to hide his contempt. "I can hardly believe the leader of such a dishonorable band of thieves would have the nerve to show up here."

"A greeting to you as well, Mantu, prince of the canines." Blaze hissed; the fur on her back standing on end. "I find it difficult to believe that the son of a two-faced jackal would have the gall to face me after what his tribe had done."

Both sides snarled and growled at each other menacingly from across the distance only waiting for the smallest hint of a signal from their respectively leader to launch into an attack against the other. Tensions were high between both sides in this conflict, and both Sonic and Tails knew that all it would take would be a spark to set this dangerous powder keg on fire.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's all try to calm down." Sonic interrupted standing between both Mantu and Blaze with his hands in the air. "Why don't we all just chill out, sit down, and talk about this over a nice hot stack of chili dogs?"

"Sonic's right. This arguing isn't going to get us anywhere." Tails agreed moving to stand beside his best friend. "We need to figure out who actually stole the Sol Emeralds so we may work on a plan to get them back." Both leaders seemed ready to listen to the two friends but fate had other plans in mind.

On a hilltop not far away, three hoodlums stood watching the two hostile tribes ready to tear each other's throats out. Nac the Weasel smiled at the sight of how close the two tribe had come to the brink of war.

"Well now, seems its going just like the way Breezy wanted it to go." Nac pulled Fang out of its holster. "But I think I'm going to help things along a little bit."

"Gee, Nac. That's great, Nac. Whatareyougoingtodo? Whatareyougoingtodo?" Bean asked excitedly bouncing around the area upside down on this head.

"It might move things along a little faster if Queen Fuzball took a bullet to the head." The weasel replied holding Fang up and looking through its scope. "Sorry, queenie. But you've coughed your last hairball."

(Yes, do it, Nac.) Fang hissed in his mind. (Do it now, and send that frustrating feline to Tartarus.) Nac gleefully let a bullet fly; the shot was fast but the ears and reflexes the hedgehog who hear it were faster.

"BLAZE, LOOK OUT!" Sonic exclaimed, jumping in the way of speeding bullet and pushing the cat out of the way. "Someone's trying to – unh!" The hedgehog took a shot in the shoulder, then looking around at his fellow mobians dropped like a stone. A cry went up from the cat folk before they started charging at the dogs who responded in turn.

"THE QUEEN HAS BEEN SHOT! BROTHERS TO ARMS!"

"TREACHERY FROM THE FELINES! DOGS OF THE PACK, ATTACK!"

The two armies raced forward smashing into each other like two oncoming tidal waves from opposite sides. Spears stabbed into flesh while claws tore into blood and bone. Biting and scratching spread carnage over the battlefield as two enemies finally unleashed their hatred upon one another.

"Mantu, we got to get Sonic out of here." Tails told his new friend, pointing to the wounded hedgehog. "He'll be trampled to death in this melee."

"I'll pick him up but we need a path cleared." Mantu declared lifting Sonic off the ground. "If we try running through this mass of soldiers, we'll be the ones who get trampled."

"Let me see if I can help with that." Blaze stated. Pushing her hands together and pointing them outward, Blaze set a great stream of flame that caused troops from both sides to run and either direction giving them a momentary pathway straight through the battlefield. The three mobians ran quickly out of the chaos carrying the wounded Sonic with them.

After getting a safe distance away, the leaders stopped to catch their breath.

"Glad we got out of there in one piece." Mantu noted setting Sonic down on the ground. "I hate to admit this but from the looks of things, I think both our tribes have been set up."

"I'm inclined to agree, Prince Mantu. That shot didn't come from either side, but from a third party." Blaze knelt down to where the blue hedgehog lay, using the heat from her power to cauterize his wound. "Noble hedgehog, you saved my life even when I treated you with such utter contempt. I am truly sorry for my rash behavior. And if you survive this trauma, I will do my best to make it up to you."

"But there's no way, we can convince all those troops back there to stop fighting." Tails exclaimed looking back at the battle behind them. "How are we going to stop this senseless conflict before even more blood is shed?"

"We should head back to my father's hut. He'll know what to do." Mantu stated thoughtfully picking up the wounded hedgehog once more. "And once we formulate a plan, we can get out there and stop this pointless fight while uncovering the real culprit in getting the Sol Emeralds back again."

"I'm willing to go back to the dog chief now to try and solve this." Blaze said sadly, shaking her head. "I'm just so ashamed that it was my pig-headed stubbornness that helped led to this whole terrible disaster in the first place."


	16. In a Blaze of Trouble: Pt 5

In a Blaze of Trouble: Pt 5

As the conflict between the two sides raged across the battlefield, the small band of heroes arrived back at the dog tribe's village. While Mantu explained things to his father, Lupe and Mindy tried to wake Sonic up.

"Are you alright noble hedgehog?" Mindy asked, gently slapping his face with her palm. "You look like you've taken a great deal of damage."

"Ugh. Anyone get the number of that GUN truck that ran me over?" Sonic asked groggily. "Whoa, that's the last time I try the City Escape from a helicopter."

"It appears that Sonic will recover from his wounds." She looked back to where Blaze and the dog chief stood. "But for now, I think it's time that we discover who the real culprit is."

"Well, we just assumed it was the dogs." Blaze replied thoughtfully scratching her chin. "But if it wasn't them, I bet thousand mobiums that it was that no good grinning weasel that was trying to sell electric fans to our tribe even though we don't have any electricity."

"You must be talking about Wes Weasley." Mindy added. "He was in our village for weeks trying to pass off old radios as magic singing boxes. We're a tribe that likes to live close to nature, but we're not that stupid."

"The wolf pack has had encounters with Weasley in the past and he is indeed a no-good dishonorable bloodsucking parasite." Lupe added in disgust. "But thievery without compensation isn't really his style."

"But it is something his cousin, Nac, would do if he were paid the right price." Tails remarked. "And if Nac stole the Sol Emeralds, I bet my second tail that the rest of Team Hooligan is involved as well."

"Team Hooligan!? I should have known Breezy was behind this mess." Sonic finally spoke up standing back on his legs weakly. "It's no wonder I dumped that girl after she swindled a sweet old couple out of their farm for a chocolate bar."

"You dated Breezy?" Lupe asked in shock. "Sally was right. You do have bad taste in woman."

"That's really not the problem here, right now." Sonic sighed trying to forget about his past mistakes. "We need to stop those cats and dogs from killing each other before there's no tribes left in this part of Down Unda and Breezy will turn this whole beautiful setting into condos and strip malls."

"So, how do you propose we stop them from fighting?" Lupe asked, as everyone looked towards Sonic. The hedgehog thought for a moment before a wide grin spread across his face.

"Listen, I'm gonna need all of you guys' help." The blue blur said, leaning in to talk to the entire group. "I think it's time that both tribes received a message from the gods…"

Out on the field, cats and dogs tore mercilessly into each other as the fur really flew over the entire conflict. Suddenly, the ground began to shake and a ring of fire sprang up surrounding both armies.

"Foolish mortals, you dare to disrespect the gods by fighting over the sacred treasure!?" a loud booming voice called out. "For your insolence, I should simply smite you all." The sound of thunder seemed to fill the air all around them. Suddenly, a golden hedgehog floated over the battlefield and lowered himself between the two factions.

"It looks like Sonic but it glows like the moon." One of the cats declared.

"It is an angry spirit coming to reek its vengeance upon us." A dog stated shaking in fear.

"Pathetic little mobians, you have angered the Great Sonoku." It said. "I demand that you all return to your villages at once lest I bring down my anger upon you." One of the dogs stopped shaking and looked at Sonic skeptically.

"Wait, I've never heard of a deity named Sonoku. How do we know that you're not just playing a trick on us?" He asked.

"You dare to doubt my power?" the golden hedgehog pointed his finger at Lupe who had wondered onto the battlefield unnoticed. "Watch now as I turn this smart wolf warrior into an air-headed bimbo." He suddenly snapped his fingers and Lupe was covered in a large cloud of exploding smoke. When the mist cleared, the wolf was gone and in her place stood a ditsy looking koala.

"Ohmygawd, this is like so totally boring." Barbie moaned, rolling her eyes. "I wanna go shopping and like buy some new shoes."

"The spirit is right; he is all powerful." One of the dogs shrieked in fear. "Hurry, my brothers. We must flee back to the village before it's too late." Suddenly all of the dogs went racing away from the battlefield, disappearing into the tall grass. But when the cats made no movement to run, the golden hedgehog floated back up into the air and raised his arms over his head.

"Did you not hear what I said, you felines?" the hedgehog roared. "BE GONE! Return to the jungle from whence you came!"

"Oh, hi Sonic." Big called out as loud as he could, waving his arms at the floating hedgehog. "How'd you get up there?"

"Oh no, Big. You blew my cover." Sonic groaned slapping his palm against his face. "Now, all these cats are going to turn us into kitty litter."

"Oh come on Sonic, we knew it was you from the start." One of the random cat warriors declared as the others nodded in agreement. "We only played along when we recognized Queen Blaze's flames."

At that moment, all of the conspirators came out of hiding. Tails flew down there from where he was holding Sonic up from thin wires while Lupe climbed out of the hole she had hidden in when she threw a smoke bomb and switched places with Barbie. The dog chief and Mantu emerged from behind some bushes where they were holding a long sheet of metal which Mindy had been striking with drumsticks.

"It seemed our little trickery managed to get the dog tribe to go home." The chief shook his head sadly. "And I thought my warriors would be braver than that."

"Well no offense, but what do you expect from a species that drinks from the toilet and eats their own…" Blaze trailed off.

"I see that we still have a long way to go when it comes to tribal relations." Mantu declared shooting Blaze a death glare. "But we shall try to calm our two tribes down and keep the peace until Team Sonic recovers our lost treasure."

"We're all counting on you to bring the Sol Emeralds back." Mindy declared looking over at her brother. "But I know you can do it, Tails."

"Yeah, but why are we just standing around here and talking about it?" Tails asked cocking an eyebrow. "Let's all head back to the cat village for the biggest party Down Unda has ever seen. Everybody nodded in agreement with that and the entire group started walking back through the jungle.

"Hey, Big." Sonic asked catching up to the fat cat. "You gonna be coming back to Soleanna with us?"

"Naw, me found new froggie." Big declared picking up the koala girl beside him. "This froggie a lot prettier too."

"Like my name isn't Froggy, it's Barbie." The annoyed koala replied. "But you give me another one of those back messages and you can call me anything you like." Sonic watched the two new lovebirds walk on ahead as he stopped and thought for a moment.

"Hey, has anyone seen Knuckles?" He asked.

Far away from where the tribe was partying, Team Hooligan and Wes Weasley were making a shady deal with a very suspicious looking salesman.

"Now, are you certain this is a genuine chaos emerald?" Wes asked looking at the glowing stone in his hands. "If this thing is legit, I've got a fortune in my hands."

"Oh yes, that is a real chaos emerald." The stranger declared, twirling his mustache. "In fact, I've got the other six right here. And you can have them for the right price." The shifty dealer was a red echidna in a trench coat and fedora with a pair of sunglasses and a cheap looking mustache that looked like it had been glued onto his snout. The echidna opened his trench coat to reveal six more emeralds tucked into an inside pocket.

What Team Hooligan didn't see was a crate containing different colored gems saying Soleanna Chaos Emerald glass souvenirs 25 cents each, that the echidna hid behind a bush. Each member of Team Hooligan forked over a large amount of cash and received an emerald before the shady looking monotreme vanished back into the jungle.

"Wow, we have all seven emeralds." Wes Wesley declared holding one up over his head. "Breezy will pay a fortune for these things."

"Hey, that echidna looked awfully familiar." Nac stated rubbing his chin. "How do we know that we didn't just get bamboolzed?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Didn't you see his mustache?" Bean asked looking at his reflection in the chaos emerald he was holding. "He had facial hair, a clear sign he was evil."

That seemed to be enough for Wes and the other members of Hooligan who immediately hopped on their vehicles and headed out of Down Unda.


	17. The Inside Job

The Inside Job

The Chaotix were in the Soleanna concert halls west wing, which doubled as their detective agency. Vector was sitting back in his chair listening to music on his headphones. Espio was meditating. Marine was cooking in the kitchen while Mighty and Charmy were watching TV.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes." Marine said.

"Alright." Espio replied.

"Ugh, I'm bored." Charmy added. "There's nothing to do."

"We don't have any assignments right now." Mighty stated. "And we're not in the concert season right now."

"We're going to need something fast." Vector said. "We can't get things done for free." At that moment, there was a knock at the door. "Can someone get that?" Charmy went to the door and there was a grey pony at the door.

"Package for the Chaotix." She said.

"Thanks." Charmy answered.

"You're welcome." The pony replied. The bee shut the door and put the package on the table. Vector and Mighty went over to the table.

"What's in the package?" Mighty asked.

"Open it and we'll find out." Vector said. Charmy opened up the package and found there was a walkie-talkie in the box. Vector picked it up and held it. "Only one?" Then, Charmy snatched it.

"Hello, hello?" Charmy stated into it while pressing the button. Then, he giggled.

"Ah, yes. Thank goodness someone's on the other end." A voice said coming from the device. Charmy fumbled it and Vector caught it. "I was trying to get a hold of the Chaotix. Are you part of the team?"

"Yes, we are the Chaotix Detective Agency." Vector replied.

"Listen, there is a big assignment I would like you to accomplish. I will pay you for your services." The voice said.

"What kind of payment?" The gator asked suspiciously.

"How does 2,000 mobiums sound?"

"I don't know." Vector stated cautiously.

"How about 5,000 mobiums?"

"We'll do it. What do you need?" He asked.

"I will explain things in the morning." The voice answered.

"All right. Over and out." Vector answered to him.

"Seriously?" Marine asked. "5000 mobiums? You were sold at 5000 mobiums?"

"We have to pay the bills, Marine." Vector replied. "We have to pay the bills."

* * *

The next morning, Vector, Espio, and Charmy went out to the shoreline near Soleanna. They had the walkie-talkie with them.

"So, what are we doing out here exactly?" Charmy asked flying around.

"The guy wanted to see how good of detectives we are." Espio stated.

"So, are we going to solve a great mystery of a burglary? Arson? Wait, don't tell me. Are we going to solve a murder mystery?" Charmy continued asking.

"He asked us to go to the beach, find some hermit crabs, and bring them back to the agency." Vector replied. Charmy got a puzzled look on his face.

"Isn't that a little goofy?" the bee asked.

"He stated he'll give us the real mission after this." Espio answered.

"That explains why we have buckets; we're on a scavenger hunt." The little guy stated. "Let's play 'I Spy' while we're at it." He paused. "I spy with my little eye something blue."

"The sky." Vector and Espio said simultaneously.

"How did you guys know that?" Charmy asked.

"You always pick the sky first." Espio stated. "It's rather predictable."

After finding several hermit crabs, the trio put them into a bucket and returned to the agency. Meanwhile, Mighty was at the door waiting for them.

"You guys are back." Mighty said. "Something happened while you were away."

"What was that?" Espio asked.

"The princess came by and asked us to get some modified de-robotisization thing from Eggman." He explained. "I asked her why come to us but she replied that Sonic and his pals were away in Down Unda."

"More money for us then." Vector stated as he put the bucket on the table.

"Are those… hermit crabs?" Mighty asked.

"Don't ask." Espio replied. Then, Vector picked up the walkie-talkie.

"We have completed the mission." The gator stated.

"Excellent." The voice said. "It probably was difficult to find any hermit crabs at that beach."

"Yeah, we were only able to find a few in there."

"You are going to need that skill and keen eyes." The voice explained. "The mission I want you to go on is an infiltration mission to Metropolis."

"Oh yeah, now we're talking." Charmy said in an upbeat manner.

"Charmy, that's a very dangerous place." Mighty stated. "It's no place for a child."

"Who are you calling a child?" The bee replied. "I'm very mature." Mighty pushed together a whoopee-cushion; then, Charmy laughed at the sound.

"Mature… for a six year old." Mighty added.

"Hey, I can take down Dr. Ro-FAT-nik all by myself."

"HEY! I'M NOT FAT! I… Sorry, I was talking to someone else." The voice replied. "What you are looking for is brain chips."

"Brain chips?" Espio asked. "Why do you want brain chips for?"

"I don't want the brain chips. I want them destroyed." The voice stated. "These were computer chips that Julian had created to store his memories and thought patterns in. Do you know what kind of devastation could occur if one of those chips go online?"

"No wonder you were so desperate to get to us." Espio commented.

"Leave it to us." Vector stated.

"Thank you, you are doing the world a service."

"Just get a check ready for us." The gator replied.

"Will do." The voice replied sounding grateful. Then, the walkie-talkie was turned off.

"Well, looks like we can take out two objectives with one mission." Espio stated.

"That means double payment and more splurging." Vector said smiling. Mighty just rolled his eyes at that.

"Just be glad Marine isn't here." The armadillo said. BONK! "Never mind."

* * *

The trio of Vector, Espio, and Mighty headed to the Metropolis Zone. The industrial base had the influence of Eggman all over the place and it was teeming with badniks of all shapes and sizes. The three hid behind a wall as they let some rollers go by. They continued and saw two egg pawns guard the door to the entrance.

"So, how are we going to get by them?" Mighty asked.

"I'll handle this part." Espio said turning invisible. There was the sound of footsteps. Then, two floating kunai appeared and went behind the two unsuspecting egg pawns. The kunai were thrusted into the back of the robots' heads and ripped down the back destroying them. Espio reappeared. "Hurry."

The gator and armadillo rushed to the entrance of the base. Mighty started working on the device to enter the gate. They were starting to her the patrols coming their way as the door opened up. The three got inside the door and closed it right before the robots came around. They weren't able to find a trace of sabotage.

As the three wandered through the hallways, they were avoiding the line of sight from the robots at the base. They entered a room with monitors.

"Looks like we have entered the room for security guards." Vector stated.

"This is where I can take over." Mighty proclaimed. He was able to jam the system and gain control of the cameras. They saw four brain chips in a separate storage unit all together. "I found the chips. Espio, head to that storage depot and destroy the chips."

"I'm on it." The chameleon stated as he left. "Keep in touch."

He looked around the files and noticed a file for the Julian brain chips. "Looks like we have found some information."

"Let's take it." Vector stated. Mighty inserted a flashdrive and took the document out. "We can send this to the princess when along with the de-robotization thing."

"I'm in the storage depot." Espio said over his comlink.

"Good, we are going to shut off the camera for 30 seconds." Mighty said. "Destroy the chips and leave the depot within that time."

"Understood." The chameleon answered.

"Okay… GO." Mighty stated shutting off the camera.

"Look there is the file for the de-robotization modifications." Vector stated.

"Well, here we go." He clicked on the file and dragged it to the flashdrive folder. Once he released the mouse, the file deleted itself. All of the monitors showed Eggman's face. And sirens were blaring.

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" the system stated. "All robots eliminate all trespassers. Metropolis going under lock down."

"Espio, do you read me?" Mighty said. "We've been detected. Have you destroyed the chips?"

"Affirmative." Espio replied.

"Meet us at the security room, we're getting out of here." Mighty stated.

"On my way." The chameleon said. They noticed the lights have gone out.

"Can you make the lights come back on?" Vector asked.

"I can try." Mighty stated. He tried messing with the computer. "It seems the lights have to be turned on manually."

"Looks like we're in the dark." Vector replied.

"It seems that Eggman is smarter than what we had expected." Mighty commented. Vector noticed that there were lights coming from under the door.

"Badniks." Vector stated. Mighty removed the flashdrive and hid in the corner with the gator. A few egg pawns came in with lances in hand; all with powerful lights on their heads. Vector smashed up the robots with his hands and his tail, getting the jump on them. Espio returned.

"I'm here now." The lizard said.

"It looks like we aren't going out the way, we came." Vector said. "These smashed robots will be proof that we were in the area."

"We have no time for dialogue. We need to get out fast." Mighty stated.

"We can try to escape using the septic system." Espio said.

"As long as we can protect the information we got. We can leave anyway out." The nervous armadillo replied.

The three headed towards the septic system. Mighty tried opened up the doorway that was blocked their way. Then, they encountered a few rollers as they unfolded. They had started to blast their weapons upon them; the trio got out of the way and took cover.

Espio threw throwing stars at them; they disrupted their targeting systems. They, now, started to fire in every direction except that their targets. Vector ran up and leapt into the air; he slammed his fists into the robots, smashing the robots into pieces.

"This door won't open." Mighty said.

"I'll get it." Vector punched the door multiple time and busted it open. The Chaotix went through the broken door.

"Where do you think you're going?" a robot said in front of them. Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts came before them. "You aren't getting out of here." The metallic monkey continued.

"We have no time to deal with a bunch of half-witted calculators." Vector said.

"Hey, who are you calling half-witted calculators?" Grounder asked.

"He's talking about us." Scratch replied.

"That's not nice." Grounder answered. "You take that…" Vector had whacked the bot's head off with his tail. Espio used more kunai on Scratch pinning him down. Mighty grabbed Coconuts and threw in over his shoulder and tearing Cococnuts' arms off.

"Let's get out of here." Mighty said.

"Oh, you're running away?" Coconuts shouted. "Wait until I throw my coco-bombs at… Shoot. I can't reach my arms."

The three mobians escaped from Metropolis and got back to their detective agency. Marine was waiting for them outside as well as Charmy.

"Welcome back." Marine said. "I hope the mission went well."

"It did." Espio answered. "We got the information we needed."

"We can get our pay from that guy." Vector added. Mighty sat down at the computer and put in the flashdrive.

"Now, let's check out the information that we have received." The armadillo said. He looked at what he saw and a look of horror came across his face. "My God…"

"What is it?" Charmy asked.

"The guy asked us to destroy the chips that we find." Mighty said. "We have found four there, right?"

"Yes." Espio stated. "That was what we counted and were present."

"The document said that there were FIVE that were made." He continued. Shock came across the Chaotix.

"WE HAVE TO GO BACK THERE AND DESTROY THAT LAST CHIP!" Vector roared angerly.

"It has stated that the final chip had already been active." Mighty said. "And it's not even there anymore."

"If that's the case," Charmy asked in worry as he gulped in fear. "Where's the last one?"


	18. Prelude to Battle

Prelude to Battle

It was a bright and sunshine filled day in Soleanna and the citizens were out enjoying the warm weather that an early spring was giving them. On the city's Eastern side, many mobian families had gathered at Queen Nicole Memorial Park for picnics and barbeques, roasting hamburgers and hot dogs in the shadow of their beloved former queen's statue.

Among the gathered mobians was a familiar blue hedgehog and his little two-tailed buddy standing in front of a chili dog vendor who was most unhappy with their presence.

"Hey c'mon, Mac. You already eaten three dozen of my dogs." The obese pigman complained. "Don't you think it's time for you and your little fox friend to move on?"

"Aw, come on. Porker Louis. You know we'll pay for all the dogs we eat." Sonic answered. "Besides, my little bro here could use four or five relish dogs for the road."

"I know you're paying for everything, Sonic, but I think it would be nice if you left some hot dogs for the kids to buy." At that three mobian children: two rabbit twins and one unidentifiable red furry creature came running up to the cart.

"Hey, Mr. Louis." The blue male bunny greeted him. "Have any coney dogs for me and my sister today?"

"Ah, so good to see you out in the park, Buster." The obese hotdog vender smiled. "The usual for you and little Babs."

"Thanks, Mr. Louis." The girl giggled as he handed the two large hot dogs to them. "Could you pick up and order of onion rings for our new friend here?" She pointed back at the furry mobian.

"Oh yes, Kelmo love onion rings." The creature stated as the porcine vendor. "Kelmo want whole order."

"Tell you what kids since you've been so good today. I'll pay for all three of your snacks." Sonic stated to them.

"Gee, thanks Mr. Sonic." They all replied in unison.

"But Sonic, how do you know that they've been good?" Tails whispered in his older friend's ear. "This is the first time, you ever met them."

"Ah, all kids are inherently good, Tails." Sonic replied. "It's not until get older that some of them turn into the Breezys and Robotniks of the world." The kids thanked Sonic and ran off with their rewards. It was just then that many of the mobians in the park pointed up at the sky staring in wonder. At first, it looked like some kind of comet was passing over head. But as the streaking object came closer and closer, the spectators in the park could see it was man-made.

"Hey guys, look up there." The young male rabbit explained. "It looks like some kind of jet or something is going to land in the middle of the park."

"Ooh, Kelmo like planes." The red creature grinned. "Kelmo always wanted to be a pilot when he grows…" BOOM! The object landed right at the spot where the three children had been standing. A thunderclap was heard and a large cloud of smoke was thrown into the air. The little sister was seen being flung in the air by the blast landing unharmed in the pond. But as the smoke cleared, the form of Metal Sonic rose from the impact crater as the smell of scorched rabbit meat and singed red fur filled the park.

"Where is he, meat bags!" Metallix demanded. His red eyes glowing with the icy glare of death. "Where is that damned hedgehog?"

"I'm right here, you big coward!" Sonic screamed. His fists shaking in rage. "And I'll kick your tail in for what you did to those kids." Sonic jumped on his metal counterpart in a blinding fury. Curling up into a buzzsaw formation and lightspeed dashing right at the turbine in Metallix's center. "You know I wonder what little animal is going to pop out when I smash your ugly face into a million pieces."

"You stupid, porcupine." Metallix sneered crossing his arms in front of his chest and catching the blue sphere in his claws. "If you truly believe you can hurt me, then you are one poor deluded fool." The machine hurled the blue sphere backward sending it smashing into one of the park's biggest oak trees.

As Sonic uncoiled himself and tried to stand, Tails was already leaping into action.

"Everybody, get out of the park." The two-tailed fox yelled guiding families and park goers toward the exit. "Get away. It's not safe."

"Your little two-tailed friend is wasting his time, hedgehog." Metallix declared clenching his right claw into a fist. "Once I have ended your miserable existence, I will be going after these witless pheasants next."

"Nice pun, bird brain." Sonic replied.

"Silence, I do not appreciate your humor." The heartless machine snapped. "I never did even back in the old days." Before Sonic could even question what he meant, Metallix was on him throwing a flurry of rapid fire punches right at his face and chest. Knocking the hedgehog farther and farther back. "I must say old friend. This does feel rather exhilarating. I can see why you enjoyed racing around and destroying things so much."

"You talk… like you know me…" Sonic tried to speak out, ignoring the pain from his wounds.

"Oh, but I certainly do." His robot duplicate explained, putting a hand on his chest. "A lot more more than you realize!" Metallix landed one final blow against Sonic knocking unconscious.

Picking the unconscious hedgehog up by the quills, he dragged Sonic across the park towards a camera robot that he had placed in the park as he first landed.

"I've got a little surprise for you, hedgehog. But I want someone else to tremble in fear." He said walking over and tapping on the camera robot's lens. "Are you seeing this, Eggman? I so do hope you are getting a good view."

Far away, Eggman watched on the one free monitor he had. Anger brewing up inside him as he exploded at Metallix's words.

"I can see perfectly, you renegade robot!" Eggman screamed pounding on the monitor screen. "When I get my hands on you, I'm going to reprogram you into an Atari 2600."

"You know." Metallix stated. "You always had a rather big mouth, Snively."

"Don't to talk back to…" Eggman stated. "Wait, how did you know…?" Suddenly, the doctor's eyes when wide and he went deathly pale. As he realized, the terrifying truth. "No, it can't be…" The monitor shut off.

"Well, it looks like Dr. Eggman has realized who I am. Has your feeble brain processed the truth yet, hedgehog?" Metallix stated. Sonic began to come to.

"Wha… What are you talking about? I have no idea what you're blabbering about metal head." Sonic stated.

"I'll tell you, but first I believe a little lesson in discipline is in order." The machine grabbed Sonic's arm. He twisted it completely around, loud audible crack as the hedgehog screamed in agony. "Oh yes, that felt good, now didn't it?" Metallix chuckled grabbing the hedgehog's other arm. "Now, be sure to scream even louder this time. I didn't get quite enough pleasure out of your last wail of agony." He snapped the other arm and Sonic let out a second howl of pain. "You still don't get it, you stupid little hedgehog. You still haven't figured out who I am." Metallix grabbed both of his legs twisting each ankle completely around backward followed by a sick cracking sound and a third scream from the already beaten hedgehog.

"Who are you! WHO ARE YOU!" Sonic shrieked in pain.

"I am the nightmare that haunted Mobians' dreams for 10 years. I am the terror that turned innocent flesh into hardened circuits and steel. You and your foolish freedom fighters left me for dead on the Doomsday Device, but evil such as mine is not so easy to kill." Metallix exclaimed.

"It can't be…" Sonic whispered coughing up a dribble of blood. "Julain?"

"Surprising, isn't it?" Metallix whispered back staring right into the frightened hedgehog's eyes. "My body was destroyed by your last act of foolishness, but my mind survived on this remarkable back up chip." Metallix opened his chest plate showing the injured Sonic a glowing piece of circuitry. "It was a backup I made in case my corporal form ever met an untimely end. But that stupid nephew of mine wasn't aware of the chip's true purpose and stuck it in the body of a normal roller." Metallix let go of Sonic and floated up into the air. "It wasn't until my encounter with the energies of the master emerald that my mine began to awaken once again. I have slowly evolved my fully mechanized form into the wondrous being you see before you."

"You look like a bad copy of me." Sonic gagged trying to keep some humor in this horrifying situation. "I didn't know you were big enough a fanboy to try and imtate…"

"SILENCE!" Metallix screamed as he slapped him across the face. "Do you know how much of an insult it is to be stuck in the form of my own worst enemy!? To look into the mirror each day and see your damned reflection staring back at me and knowing that you were the cause of this!?"

"Actually, Butt-nik considering your old body, I think it's an improvement."

"Joke all you like, you impudent little rodent." Metallix blasted off into the sky. "I shall spare what passes for your life now."

"So, you're not going to kill me now?" Sonic asked in confusion.

"Oh no, but I will be back with an army large enough to blast everything you mobians have built since my demise to atoms and once you and your pathetic freedom fighters are gone. All of Mobius will be mine for the taking." As Metallix rocketed off into the clouds, Tails came back and helped his injured friend onto a med team. He helped him get on a gurney.

"SONIC! Are you alright?" Tails asked him, putting a warm cloth over the hedgehog's forehead as the doctors hooked him up to IVs. "We saw the whole battle. Why did Metal Sonic let you go?"

"Julian, Tails." Sonic answered. "It was Julian in there. Robuttnik has returned and no one anywhere on Mobius is safe."


	19. What I'm Made Of

What I'm Made Of

Amy Rose is crying as Knuckles is trying to calm her down. Meanwhile, Bunny and Tails were in the room nearby them. Meanwhile, in the room next door, Sonic was under intensive care.

"I should have done more to have helped him." Tails stated. "If I helped Sonic won't be in such critical condition."

"There were many who needed to help escapin', Tails." Bunny replied. "There was nothin' that could have been done."

"Yes, there was. If only it could have been faster." The fox answered. "I just wish that there could be a second chance." Shortly after he said that, there was a bright light and a loud boom coming from the other room.

"Oh no!" Amy stated jumping. Tails rushed into the room first followed by Amy.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted. The blue blur was off the table and on the floor. The two went to him to get him up. Sonic groaned as he opened his eyes.

"Tails, Amy." He said. "What was that?" Amy tried to hug him gently.

"Sonic, I'm glad you're okay." She said crying with joy.

"What!?" Sonic stated. "My arms, they aren't hurting." He looked at his legs. "Neither are my legs!" At this point, Bunny and Knuckles came in as well. Everyone including Sonic himself was shocked when the hedgehog was able to stand up on his feet once again. "How did this even happen?!"

"That's what I want to know." Tails said.

"Who cares, Sonic is back." Amy commented. But the tender moment was interrupted when the security alarm was going off.

"What's going on?" Sonic asked.

Sally was running to the system mainframe. There, she found Rotor typing some stuff into the computer.

"What's going on Rotor?" Sally asked.

"The radar towers had picked up a series of high altitude objects." Rotor answered. "Bring up the images now." He brought the images up.

"That fleet. It's the Eggman Fleet." The princess responded in shock. "We need to get everyone in action."

"We've faced Eggman before." Rotor said.

"This isn't Eggman we're dealing with." Sally stated. "We're dealing with an old enemy and Sonic is out of commission."

"Not quite, Sal." A voice said. She and Rotor turned around and saw Sonic standing in the doorway. The princess smiled.

"Sonic, I'm glad that you are alright." She said.

"It's good to be back."

"But how did you recover so quickly?"

"Beats me."

"Well, can you get your team together?" Sally asked.

"If we are going to take down Robuttnik once and for all, then count me in."

"We'll assemble a superteam to face against him. Team Sonic, Team Chaotix, Antione, Sir Ray and myself will go together as a united force."

"Princess, that'll put your life in jeopardy." Rotor answered.

"I realize that." Sally rebuked. "But I can't just let this fleet go."

"Very well, then." Rotor replied. "I'll make you a flight pack to farther increase your safety."

"Thank you."

 _"My concern is if there's enough room in the Sky Patrol."_ Rotor thought.

All of Team Sonic, Team Chaotix, and the rest of them were in the Sky Patrol with Rotor piloting. As they were approaching the Egg Fleet, he noticed several aerial bots were heading there way.

"We got Eggman's robots coming our way," he said. "Antione, Ray, get to the gun batteries. Marine, Mighty, head to the laser blaster."

"Right." The four of them answered. Then, they got to their positions.

"All right everyone, hold on. It's time for some fancy flying." Rotor replied.

"Since you're coming on this mission, Sal." Sonic stated as they strapped in. "Who's in charge while you are away?"

"I put Lupe and Cosmo in charge." She answered.

"What about the chaos emeralds?" Sonic asked again.

"On the Sky Patrol in the back." She replied.

"Gravity Systems activate." Rotor added. "Shields at 100%." The Sky Patrol turned to the left to dodge out of the way of the gun fire. Antione fired his gun back at the egg bots striking them down. They approached the first ship.

"Ugh, this is getting boring." Sonic stated as he got out of his seat, he opened the door.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sally asked.

"If the ones on the ships shoot down the Sky Patrol, we're done for." Sonic answered. The Princess sighed.

"Very well, but take Tails and Knuckles with you." Sally added. "Meet us at the flagship."

"Gotcha." Sonic replied. The fox and echidna leapt out of the Sky Patrol onto the first ship with Sonic.

The trio ran across the deck of the ship where egg pawns fired their blasters towards them. The blue blur spindashed them into pieces. Knuckles picked up heavy objects and hurled the objects at the bots. Tails had used his blaster towards blowing them away. They continued to jump from ship to ship making their way to the flag ship. Ray was giving the trio cover fire whenever possible.

Meanwhile, back on the Sky Patrol, Rotor saw some more enemies. He locked onto the enemies and fired missiles towards them shooting them out. The Sky Patrol shook heavily.

"What was that?" Sally asked. He checked the scanners.

"We have buzz bombers." Rotor answered. "Shields are at 90%. Somebody stop those bombers." He looked out and saw they were more armored. "Looks like Eggman gave them an upgrade." Then, the lazers fired from Mighty and Marine and the buzz bombers were no more.

"I got one." Mighty answered.

"Don't get cocky." Marine added.

Eventually, the Sky Patrol reached the flag ship of the Eggman fleet along with Sonic and his trio. The big ship landed with the engine still running. Sally, Bunny, Amy, Espio, Charmy, and Vector got out of the ship before it took off again.

"We made it to the rendezvous point." Sally answered. "Sonic, you and your squad go take down Eggman. Vector, you and your squad try to shut down the weapon and security system."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Vector asked.

"Find the computer room." Sally replied.

 _"Dammit. That joke again?"_ Vector thought.

"Everyone else come with me." Sally added. "We have a certain dragon to talk to." As the teams split up, a signal was caught on the Chaotix's radio system.

"Hello, can anyone hear me?" the voice said. Espio picked it up.

"This is the Chaotix." He answered. "What is it?"

"I'm trapped in Eggman's prison." The voice replied. "I need your help to get out."

"We're on our way." Espio replied. Then, the Chaotix headed on their way.

Sally and the girls were wondering the outer side of the flag ship. When they stepped onto some sections, they started to lower.

"Everyone, grab on." Sally answered has she activated her flight pack. Bunny and Amy held on to her as she lifted up. The section plummeted off of the ship and Sally got them to safety again. There were similar moments that happened.

Meanwhile, inside the ship, Charmy found a thick lever with a red handle standing up straight.

 _"I wonder what this lever does."_ The bee wondered. Then, he pushed the lever forwards. The front of the flagship pointed downwards. Outside, debris started to roll forwards towards Team Sally. She and her team was able to dodge the stuff. _"The ship is lowering? What happens if I go the other way?"_ Then, he pulled the lever completely back. The ship pointed the nose upwards. Sonic and his team were losing balance.

"Looks like we have to jump onto those rails." Sonic said as he jumped and he started to grind on the rails. Tails just flew and Knuckles held onto them as he slid.

 _"The ship moves upwards."_ The bee thought. _"I'll just put it back."_ He set it back to where it was and just left it.

"Charmy, quit messing with the controls." Vector stated. "We have work to do."

"Coming." The bee answered.

Sally, Bunny, and Amy were in the interior of the flagship. They headed up running into Shadow, Rouge and Dulcy.

"Hmph, what do we have here?" Shadow asked.

"Looks like a few country bumpkins are back for more." Rouge added.

"At least, we girls aren't hussies like you, bat-girl." Bunny rebuked.

"Dulcy, I know about what has happened to your mother." Sally stated. "But listen to me, you are on the wrong side."

"Even if I come back," Dulcy answered. "West Side Island will never let me back. What about the dragons that were left to be robotisized or die?"

"We had no idea that happened. And for that I'm sorry." Sally answered.

"You aren't sorry. You royals are just scum." Shadow replied butting into the conversation.

"Shadow, I heard the story on what happened to you." Amy stated. "Please don't be angry at her." The black hedgehog stood in place flashing back.

* * *

 _Shadow was on the space colony arc and he had told Maria on the events that happened leading up to this point in time._

 _"Shadow," Maria replied. "You don't have to be so angry at them."_

 _"But Maria…" Shadow stated._

 _"If you continue to hold this grudge, you'll never be happy with your life." Maria answered calmly. There was a pause in the dialogue. "What was the past is a past that can't be changed and tomorrow has its own worries. You should focus on the here and now."_

 _"I have to get that throne. I was promised that." Shadow replied._

 _"But I know that it won't make you happy." Maria answered. "But I see it all over your face that you care about Rouge than anything else. Even more than all of South Island." Then, Shadow reverted back to the present day._

* * *

"Hello, Mobius to Shadow." Amy said to him.

"Are you Maria's re-incarnation?" Shadow asked her.

"What!? Where did you get that from?" The pink hedgehog answered. The black hedgehog said nothing. "Well, I was just wanting to…"

"Eggman is an idiot." Shadow replied. "He has a completely farfetched dreams of world domination that he has no chance of achieving."

"So, you're saying…"

"I'm taking my team and we're getting off this stupid gunboat." Shadow replied.

"What!?" Everyone else stated at the same time.

"You heard me. Team Dark is cutting ties from Eggman, but that doesn't mean we are going to be friends." Shadow answered.

"Boy. That resolved rather quickly." Sally commented. Then, the ship shook. "What in the…"

Meanwhile, Team Chaotix arrived at the prison chamber. Vector started to pound on the iron door of the cell.

"Are you on the other side of the door?" Vector asked through the communicator.

"Yes, I am." It answered.

"We are going to get you out now." The croc stated as he busted the door open. Inside, they found Eggman inside the cell with a signal transmitter and radio.

"What's going on here?" Espio asked.

"What's up?" Charmy asked.

"I can explain." The doctor stated feeling nervous about the three mobians.

"You better start talking." Vector stated.

"I see you've been had." Espio replied.

"Listen, I was locked in here." Eggman explained. "He hijacked my fleet and locked me in here before the fleet took off."

"If it wasn't you, then who was it?" Vector asked.

"It was…" Eggman stated in terror. Then, the ship rumbled. "Oh no, it's him."

"WHO IS IT!?" Vector shouted.

All the while, Sonic and his team made it up to the main bridge. They saw a cloaked figure from the back on top of the spire on top of the bridge.

"Hmmhmmhmmm…" a voice stated. "So, you have arrived Sonic the hedgehog. You must be agonizing by now from all the damage that you have received earlier."

"Not this time, Julian." Sonic stated back.

"But from what I understand, you shouldn't be here." Julian barked. "I have left you in critical condition and have scheluded my invasion to happen a couple hours later. How is it, a normal blue hedgehog, was able to recover so quickly?"

"I guess I just got lucky." Sonic replied.

"Lucky?" Metallix stated. "If that is the case, your luck has just run out!" Metallix shot down lightning onto the platform that Sonic's trio was on, shaking up the ship. The platform plummeted onto the deck of the ship. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles got back up on their feet. "It is no use for you, Sonic." Metal Sonic proclaimed. "This time I will have my revenge." Sally, Amy, Bunny, Shadow, Rouge, Dulcy, Vector, Espio, Charmy, and Eggman came out to see what happened. "NOW, ALL LIVING THINGS WILL KNEEL BEFORE THEIR MASTER!" He shot lightning into the air and it came back down, blowing up the upper part of the flagship. He used advanced engineering to transform himself into a blue metallic dragon.

"It's no use." Eggman said. "It's hopeless now. If only we had something powerful enough to stop him."

"The chaos emeralds." Sally replied. "We have those on the Sky Patrol."

"Even if we have them, there is only a small chance to stop him." Eggman replied.

"Hey, we can take him on." Sonic answered.

"Tails, call Rotor. We need the chaos emeralds pronto." Sally answered.

"Got it Aunt Sally." Tails stated as he opened the communicator.

"We'll buy him time." Shadow stated. The dragon blasted out a laser out from its mouth. Everyone dodged out of the way. The black hedgehog dropped Sonic his chaos emerald as he and team dark rushed up to face the dragon. Chaotix and Team Sally headed up as well.

"I see the princess has come to face me once again." Metallix stated. "I shall destroy you and your comrades." Team Sally attacked him from the right flank, Team Chaotix attacked the left flank, and Team Dark attacked with a frontal assault. "You think you can stop me? I realized how appropriate it is for a robot to rule over an empire of robots."

"Sonic, remember." Eggman stated. "I had been afraid of my uncle for a long time."

"What do you have to say?" Sonic asked in response.

"I remembered that my uncle Julian died in that Doomsday Device explosion." Eggman replied. "That isn't my uncle, he is just a robot with his memories. You need to destroy him."

"You don't have to ask me twice."

The Sky Patrol had landed by Sonic's team. It had taken a bit of damage from battle. Antione popped out with the six emeralds they had.

"Good luck, Sonic." Antione stated. Then, Metallix having enough of the fight against the three teams. He sprouted wings and jet/hover propulsion and detached from the ship. They noticed that the flagship was beginning to plummet.

"Rotor, get everyone out of here." Sonic stated.

"But what about you?" Rotor asked.

"Don't worry about me." Sonic replied.

"Sonic, I'm not letting you do this alone." Tails added.

"You can count me in as well." Knuckles commented.

"All right."

"Alright. Let's end this once and for all." Sonic stated. They had their hands in the middle as the seven chaos emeralds spun around them rapidly. Then, when they collided the three of them had entered their super form. They turned to face Metallix and flew off.

"So, my nemesis." The robot stated. "You come face me; I shall destroy you here and now."

The dragon roared as it fired out blasts of crystalline energy towards them. Sonic spindashed through the crystals. He locked onto Metallix and banged up against him. The dragon swerved toward to the side and started shooting missiles out of his back. They were locked on to them. Tails dodged out of the way and started to use the missiles against themselves. He blasted his shots towards Metallix hitting the mid-section.

"Is this all you got?" Metallix asked. "You are nothing but specks of dust to me."

"You highly underestimated me in the past, Julian, and you are doing that again now." Sonic replied. The dragon dove down into the clouds and grabbed a fallen ship. He came back up and threw it at the trio. Knuckles punched through the ship's debris and he flew up towards the dragon and punched it in the face. The dragon roared.

"You are provoking my wrath." Metallix added. "You will regret ever being born." He started to fire the missiles and the crystal blasts. Sonic continued to blast through the crystals as Tails and Knuckles redirected and punched out the missiles respectively. Sonic was able to get another strike on him. "You can't last forever under my assault. I will reign over Mobius as the supreme overload."

"How hits can he take?" Knuckles asked.

"Is he invincible?" Tails asked.

"He's not invincible." Sonic replied. "That's his ego talking." He turned to his teammates. "We need to combined our strength against him."

"Whatever it means, I'm game." The echidna remarked.

"Let's go." Tails said. They noticed they were able to charge up energy.

"What's this?" Metallix asked.

"This is the super power of teamwork." Sonic stated as a ball of great energy formed. All three contributed and they all fired it towards the metallic dragon. It hit straight on the monster swirling around him and striking him down. The dragon roared out of fury of his body falling apart.

"This is impossible." Metallix roared as there were explosions coming off him. "I am the Supreme Being Julian Robotnik. I can never be destroyed, ever." Then, there was a massive explosion destroying the being.

"At last, it's finally over." Sonic stated.

"We did it." Tails answered.

"Mission accomplished." Knuckles added.

"Let's head home." Sonic replied.

Eggman saw that the chip containing Julain's memories had landed right in front of him. The doctor turned around and grabbed a sledgehammer.

"So, Uncle Julian…" He said. "This chip is the last remanence of your existence to this planet and now you are at my mercy. Well then," He raised the hammer above his head. "This is for all the abuse that you had put me through for years." He brought it down, smashing the chip to tiny pieces. "There. Now, I'm free from that uncle of mine." He turned to some egg pawns that were standing nearby whom survived the crash. "Egg pawns, clean this mess up." And the robots did what he asked.

Sonic and all the mobians returned back home where they celebrated their victory over Metallix and the final defeat of Julian. That evening, Sonic looked out of the window to the stars. Then, Amy came up to him.

"Hey Sonic." Amy said.

"Hello Ames." The blue blur stated.

"Why are you away from the party?" She asked.

"I just remember the last time that we did a celebration like this. I was with Sally at the time." Sonic stated. "And it broke apart."

"But there is one who will accept you." Amy said. "And this girl doesn't want to leave your side." She kissed him on the cheek.

"I think I will stay by her too." The blue blur stated as the two kissed under the moonlight.

* * *

A month had passed and the team was able to get some rest. Princess Sally and Sir Ray the Flying Squirrel were finally wed. But over on Angel Island, things were not well. Team Hooligan was at the altar of the master emerald. They had equipment used to capture ghosts.

"Hey hey hey." Bean stated. "Are we going to snatch the master emerald?"

"Yes you eediot, we are going to take the emerald." Sleet answered. "If you would just settle down."

"Pull it up, Bark and Dingo." Nac answered. "Be careful not to drop it."

"We're tryin' boss." Bark stated. Then, he noticed Bean was on top of the emerald. "Hey, get off of the emerald." Bean jumped off and onto Bark's head leaping away. "Why you little…?" He pushed the emerald forward to chase after the duck. Dingo ended up juggling the master emerald and ended up tossing it.

"SHOOT!" Dingo stated.

"NOOOOO!" Nac shouted. Then, the master emerald slammed on the ground; shattering it into pieces. The weasel turned to the bear and the duck. "You nitiwts, don't you see what you have done?!" The mobians just looked towards him. "Now, we are going to have to pick up the pieces."

"Uh, boss?" Dingo asked.

"Now, the fragments are not as valuable as the whole master emerald." Nac added.

"Uh, boss?" Sleet asked.

"And we will never get that…"

"BOSS!" Bark shouted.

"WHAT IS IT!?" Nac yelled.

"There's someone behind you." Bean stated. Nac turned around and saw a translucent blue form with blue opaque eyes.

"WOLOLOLOLOLOL!" the figure roared while flailing his two limbs.

"RUN!" Nac shouted; the five of team Hooligan ran for their lives from the monster.


End file.
